The Prophecy
by Mondhase
Summary: Translation of my German FF 'Die Prophezeiung'. Chris is slowly getting closer to the Halliwells although they still don't know he's family. But while struggling with the memories of his past, a prophecy of the seer is about to turn his world upside down.
1. Memories

**A/N: This is a translation of my German fanfiction 'Die Prophezeiung'. I've already finished 21 chapters of that and new chapter****s here will be added whenever I find time to write the translation. Reviews are very much appreciated. **

**x**

**Th****is story takes place after Prince Charmed, so the sisters know that Wyatt will become evil in the future, but they don't know who Chris really is.**

**Nothing of Charmed belongs to me and I'm not making any money with this.**

**x**

**Chapter**** 1: Memories**

„Where do you think you're going?" Paige flinched unconsciously, hearing the reproachful voice behind her. She was nearly at the bottom of the stairs, when a certain whitelighter stopped her.

"Chris, listen. It's Saturday evening and I've got a date for which I'm already late. So if you don't mind, I'm going now."

"And if I do mind?" Paige looked up at the dark haired young man, who was watching her from the landing, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Her left hand stemmed into her hip, her right index finger against her lips, she seemed to be thinking for a few seconds, only to reply with a playful smile,

"Well, in that case… I'll still go."

When the youngest of the Charmed Ones turned around and headed towards the front door, she could hear how Chris hurried down the stairs behind her to catch up to her.

"Paige, the demons don't care if it's Saturday evening or not. We've already been attacked once today, they could come back."

"But Piper blew them up, didn't she?" Paige had reached the door by now and was rolling her eyes when she turned around to her whitelighter.

"Just two of them. There's still a chance that the third could try it again."

Chris was desperate. Why was it that nobody ever took his warnings seriously? He was only here in this time to stop his brother Wyatt from turning evil. Well, not that anyone knew about that; at least not the part with the brother.

He had already managed to break the news of Wyatt's future as a tyrant and murderer to Piper and Leo, but the fact that he himself was their son, too, would remain his secret for the time being.

Not that they would believe him, anyway, 'cause he knew that especially Leo still doubted him. And even if his aunts didn't think him evil or some kind of threat, the young man didn't have the feeling that they particularly liked him or even supported him.

"Oh, calm down Chris, will you? Nothing is going to happen. Piper is here keeping an eye on Wyatt and you're here, too. And if you really need me, you can call me. Like a whitelighter I mean. I've practised with Phoebe and although I'm not as good as you or Leo, yet, if you call me vigorously enough, I'll hear you and come immediately. Satisfied?"

Paige could clearly see that he was _not_ satisfied, but it would have to make do. She was very proud of finally having improved her whitelighter powers, but Chris did not seem to have paid very much attention to that part of her explanations.

"Alright, fine. But don't stay out too long."

"Ok, mum!" Paige, who was already out of the door, waved goodbye to him over her shoulder, then she got into her car and left for her date with Richard. Of course, she could easily have orbed there, but since he was trying to live without magic, she too did her best to go without it whenever they met.

x

Shaking his head, Chris closed the front door and went into the kitchen to grab something to eat. He could only hope that the sisters would soon start to acknowledge his authority as their whitelighter, or would at least heed his warnings more. At times he wanted nothing more than to tell them the whole truth. About him, about Wyatt, about the future. Everything that had went wrong in his time and all the crimes his oh-so-wonderful brother had committed.

But he had no idea what had caused Wyatt's change or how much he could alter the future without making everything worse. Once it had even crossed his mind that he could be the one responsible for everything.

If he told the witches now about Wyatt's crimes and cruelties, resulting in them unconsciously keeping the boy at distance, couldn't that turn out to be the reason why he had turned his back on them and everything the Charmed Ones had always stood for?

Chris' head hurt just thinking about the possible implications of his time travel. He was only 22 years old and although he had seen quite a lot in his life, he felt that nothing could ever have prepared him for this. Phoebe's and Paige's constant encouragements to relax and take things more easily seemed almost ridiculous in the light of what was at stake. But of course he couldn't expect them to understand. And if he did things right, they never would.

x x x

Chris had been standing in the half-dark for quite a while now, absentmindedly scanning the contents of the fridge, so he was rather surprised when the light in the kitchen was suddenly turned on. As if caught doing something forbidden, he instantly closed the door of the fridge and spun around, facing the oldest of the Charmed Ones.

Involuntarily, images of his childhood suddenly appeared before his eyes: He could see his mother, who had caught him literally with his hand in the cookie jar, although dinner was almost ready, standing exactly where Piper now stood, looking at him reproachfully. She had always pretended to be offended because he obviously didn't appreciate her cooking skills.

"Hi,… Piper." It had taken all of Chris' self-control not to call her 'mum' and to just collapse into her arms, although that was really all he wanted to do right now. But he would not spill his secret. That would just make things so much more complicated.

"You hesitated. Couldn't remember my name?" Piper replied half jokingly as she came further into the room and made her way past Chris to have a look into the fridge herself. As she was busy studying its content, she didn't see the longing expression that passed across her whitelighter's face for a moment.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just a little tired." Obviously satisfied with this answer, Piper nodded shortly while she started to carry several things from the fridge onto the kitchen table.

"I know, at the moment it's just the two of us and Wyatt, but I'm really in the mood for cooking, so don't you want to keep me some company and maybe lend me a hand?"

Piper looked at the young man questioningly, fully expecting him to turn her invitation down. Because as long as there was no demon hunting involved, their new whitelighter never seemed to be very sociable, especially in regards to her. He had been with them for the past few months, but Piper didn't really know anything about him, except that he was from the future and didn't talk a lot.

"Yeah, sure. Why not." Startled by this, Piper looked at Chris and had the very strong impression that he was no less surprised than her by his reply. Well, then maybe this was an opportunity to finally break the ice between them. Because Piper couldn't shake off the feeling that Chris was sometimes trying to avoid her or was at least often uncomfortable to be alone in a room with her.

Did he maybe not like her in the future? In that case, the witch decided, she would use this opportunity to improve the negative opinion Chris obviously had of her.

x

"Should I get something from the kitchen for you?"

"No, thanks, I got everything I need." Smiling, Piper shook her head in disbelief at herself as she went into the kitchen to get another bottle of coke. Just how had Chris managed to make her agree to dinner in front of the TV? Normally that was completely out of the question for her, but despite of that, she and her whitelighter had settled down on the couch, were having chips and coke for dessert, while watching the umpteenth rerun of 'the firm' on TV.

The young man was suddenly displaying completely new sides to him, the existence of which Piper had never even thought possible before. She was just hoping that he wouldn't revert back to his usual withdrawn self after tonight, because she feared his morosity could be his downfall one day.

It was as if he was forgetting he wasn't alone in this. She, her sisters and Leo would never allow anything to happen to Wyatt, but it was no use to drive oneself crazy about it all the time. More than once she had witnessed how an inner turmoil could affect one's powers and in an emergency that could prove to be the greatest danger of all. She was not going to risk that.

Trying to get rid of these negative thoughts at least for the moment, Piper shook her head resolutely. She was not going to spoil this evening; not if everything was actually peaceful for once.

Sufficiently equipped for the rest of the movie, Piper headed back to the living room, but stopped when she passed Wyatt's playpen to look at her sleeping son for a moment. Chris, still being anxious about today's demon attack, had insisted not to leave the boy unattended in his room for so long, and so Wyatt was now lying on a stack of blankets and pillows and was sleeping peacefully.

Piper couldn't help but smile as she thought about how awkward Chris sometimes seemed to be around him. It certainly had to be strange for him to hold the same Wyatt he had known as a grown man suddenly in his arms as a child.

But her smile faded instantly as she thought of the last time Chris had seen her adult son. His fiancée Bianca had forced him to return to the future where she had then been killed by Wyatt, Piper's beloved son Wyatt. Chris hadn't told them much about what exactly happened, but knowing what she did now about the future, she had gathered as much.

Somehow Piper felt guilty as she looked over to the young man sitting on the couch. Her son had caused him so much pain and suffering, but despite all that, he wasn't here for revenge or to kill Wyatt as long as he was still young. No, he had just come into this time to prevent the innocent child from ever becoming the monster he knew.

Chris had never told them about his family, but Piper hoped that they were still alive in his time and very proud of his. Had she been his mother, she would be.

x x x

It was about ten minutes later, when Chris suddenly felt a strange tingling all through his body. Piper obviously felt it, too, because she muted the television and looked at him quizzically. Then, as if on cue, they both nearly jumped off the couch and headed over to Wyatt who had his forcefield activated and was looking around the room anxiously. None of them could see anything, but they were certain not to be alone anymore.

Chris took a few steps away from the playpen to see if he could make out anything suspicious, when a choked gasp behind him suddenly made him turn on the spot in an instant.

Blood. So much blood and Piper, who stared at him with her eyes wide open and whose gaze then slowly went down to the tip of the dagger protruding out of her chest. Chris felt as if his own heart had stopped beating while he was fighting against the memories that were threatening to make their way back into his consciousness. All that blood…, the blade…, Piper who looked at his, close to death…

It was a scream that got him back into reality, the same moment the demon behind his mother became visible and yanked the dagger out of her body brutally. His appearance was almost human, except for his eyes which seemed to be glowing from inside.

Only subconsciously Chris realised, that it hadn't been Piper or the demon who had screamed, but himself, whereby he had managed to attract the attention of their attacker.

The whitelighter clenched his hand into a fist, using his telekinesis to stop the demon in his movements, but he managed to break free from the grip within seconds and now advanced on Chris with the bloody dagger in his hand.

Flinging his enemy across the room with magic didn't work either, so the young man didn't have another choice but to back away slowly.

His eyes wandered back to Piper constantly, and he could see how she tried to steady herself with the help of the bars of Wyatt's playpen, but now inevitably sank to the floor. He could see the pain etched into her features and wanted nothing more than to be at her side, but he would have to get rid of this demon first. And since his powers obviously had no effect at all, he resorted to attack his opponent with everything in his reach, but vases and chairs didn't seem to make much of an impact either.

Now Chris had literally been driven into a corner and he was forced to realise that he couldn't do anything against the demon, so he would try to orb Piper, Wyatt and himself to safety. The Power of Three would be strong enough to vanquish him later, but for that Piper had to survive first.

Chris was just about to orb himself across the room to his mother and brother, when an explosion suddenly hit the demon in his side and made him scream out in pain. The dagger fell from his hand as he was gasping for air, obviously badly hurt. Throwing a last hateful look at Chris, the demon suddenly vanished as quickly as he had appeared.

For a short moment the young man stood petrified. No one else was here, so who had injured the demon? His mother was on the ground, unconscious, she couldn't have done it.

_Oh god, mum!_

"Mum!" In merely a heartbeat Chris was kneeling next to her on the ground, her frighteningly cold hand in his.

"Mum." Very carefully, so he wouldn't aggravate her injury, he pulled Piper into his arms. Blood soaked through his jeans and t-shirt, but he noticed neither that, nor the tears that were streaming down his cheeks, mingling with the red liquid.

"Leo!" What was at first not more than a whisper became much louder soon, until he was screaming his father's name as loud as he could. In his panic Chris didn't even realise immediately when the Elder suddenly appeared in a swirl of blue light. Leo had to grip his shoulders and even shake the young man slightly, until his mind finally got back into gear.

"Let her go." Leo realised how shaken the young whitelighter in front of him still was, so he tried his best to sound as calm as possible, although, in the light of Piper's condition, fear had taken a firm hold of his heart.

"I'm going to heal Piper, but you have to let her go, so I can reach the injury." Only reluctantly Chris followed the instruction and let his mother's body slowly sink to the floor again. Not willing to part from her completely though, he still held her hand tightly, while he watched how Leo let his hands hover over the wound, through which Piper's life was still escaping.

For one terrifying moment it seemed to be too late, but then the familiar glow finally appeared and the injury faded away, just like the blood on Piper's clothes.

Immensely relieved Leo watched as the love of his life breathed steadily again and then slowly began to open her eyes. When he had heard Chris' desperate screams, he had come immediately, leaving a meeting with the other Elders to their obvious disapproval. But he couldn't remember the last time he had heard so much panic and despair, so didn't have another option but to answer the call right away, as something horrible must have happened.

Now that Piper was quickly recovering and Wyatt was alright, too, of that Leo had made sure immediately upon his arrival, the Elder was shocked as he saw the expression in Chris' eyes when he looked over to him. Had this been his only hint for the situation, he would have expected to see Piper's dead body on the floor.

For the first time Leo's gaze went lower now and to his horror he saw the blood that was still soaking the whitelighter's clothes. Was it just Piper's or his own, too?

"Are you hurt?" It took a while for the meaning of these words to filter through to Chris and even then he was only able to answer with a soft shake of his head. He couldn't get the picture of Piper and the dagger protruding from her chest out of his head, but it was gradually being replaced by an image from his memories, showing nearly the same scene:

Piper was standing in front of him, just about to hand him a present, as a dark clad man suddenly appeared behind her, with a long blade in his hand, which he instantly proceeded to run into her back. Chris had tried to warn her, but everything had happened so fast, and before he had really known what happened, more men in the same clothes had appeared everywhere. Screams had filled the house for a few moments, but sooner than he could have imagined, everything had become quiet again.

Out of the corner of his eye he had seen his aunts and two of his cousins fall to the ground, but he had just been kneeling at his mother's side, staring into her dead eyes, too shell-shocked to think of his own safety.

The man, or rather demon, who had killed Piper had then approached him and had kicked him slightly to get his attention. Chris should have seen his end coming, but before the sword could have touch him, his surrounding had vanished behind a wall of blue light. In the last moment he had been able to see Paige, her arm outstretched in his direction, who had orbed him to safety…

x x x

Piper's face directly in front of his was what brought him back to the here and now. She had her hands at the sides of his head and was forcing him to look into her eyes.

"What happened Chris? Are you alright?" During the healing, Piper had been surprised when she had realised that Chris was holding her hand, but his following reaction had been an even bigger surprise.

When she had regained consciousness, the young man had been sitting on the ground, his back against Wyatt's playpen and his legs pulled up to his chest. He had been hugging his knees and staring of into space, while being cover in sickening amounts of blood.

Seeing him like that had nearly been a larger shock for Piper than the demon attack itself. What had happed for the young whitelighter to be this distraught? It wasn't the first time that one of them had been hurt or even nearly killed, and although it had been very close this time, that didn't explain his behaviour.

"Chris, talk to me!" Deep concern was clearly audible in her words, but Chris couldn't bring himself to follow her request.

The attack and Piper's injury had brought up too many memories he had been trying to bury for years and being here now with his future parents without being able to talk to them about all that seemed suddenly unbearable.

Chris struggled to get back to his feet, but ignored Piper's hand as she was trying to help him. The only thing she managed to get out of him, before he orbed away, was:

"I can't."

To be continued


	2. New Revelations

**Chapter**** 2: New Revelations**

Leo was standing across from the couch in the living room and listened intently as Piper was retelling the events of the evening, now that her sisters had come home.

Phoebe, who had spent the evening with Jason, was visibly shaken when she realised how close she had come to losing yet another sister. Piper noticed this and tried to calm her, but her words were to no avail. Before she had even finished saying "I'm fine now", Phoebe had already jumped up from her seat and was now hugging her sister forcefully.

"Oh, I'm soo glad you're still alive! And you," she continued, turning to Leo to hug him next, "thank you so very very much for saving Piper's life."

"It's alright, but I think it's really Chris you should be thanking."

"Chris?" Was the slightly disbelieving reply of the two younger witches, coming in unison. Piper rolled her eyes in annoyance and motioned for Phoebe to get back to the couch.

"I was just getting to that, so please, if you wouldn't mind sitting back down on your behind,…" Phoebe complied and when everyone had calmed down again, Piper continued to tell them when had happened after she had regained consciousness. How Chris had obviously saved her from the demon and had called Leo in time to heal her and she also described the strange behaviour of her whitelighter, including the fact that he was missing ever since he had orbed away.

"And he didn't say anything else?" Paige couldn't believe what she had just been told about the young man. Not just that he apparently had, at least at first, spend a perfectly nice evening with Piper, but also that something about the demon attack must have affected him enough to cause his breakdown. Piper and Wyatt were fine and Chris had not received any physical wounds either, so what had triggered this?

"No, nothing. He just orbed away and there was no sign of him ever since." Leo felt somewhat torn. On the one hand he really wanted to go looking for Chris, to make sure the boy was alright, but on the other hand he knew that their relationship wasn't exactly the best. Leo was probably the last person on earth he wanted to see right now.

"So Chris has been out there alone for hours now, in this condition? We have to find him. Leo, can't you sense where he is?" Phoebe looked expectantly at the Elder, but he just shook his head sadly.

"No, somehow he is blocking my powers. But I have a suspicion where he might be. You're right of course, I will see if I can find him. But just in case I can't, maybe you could scry for him, too."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The lights of the city below him had always had a calming effect on Chris. As a child he had often come here when he was having troubles with his parents or had gotten into a fight with Wyatt.

Sitting on top of the Golden Gate Bridge always gave him the feeling that his problems could not reach him, although he knew all too well that they still could.

His brother had been the only one in the future who knew about this place and a shiver still went down Chris' spine when he thought about the day Wyatt had paid him a visit here.

_Flashback:_

"_That's a really nice place you've picked here, _dear brother_." Chris tried to stay calm and not show his surprise over Wyatt's sudden appearance. _

"_Yes, isn't it?" He carried on to watch the cars passing below them, staying as composed as possible without so much as glancing at his brother. They both knew that Chris was in no aspect a match for him, but the blond man still couldn't stand it to be ignored, especially not from someone of his own family._

"_Look at me, when I'm tal__king to you!" Wyatt yanked Chris to his feet and held him by the collar of his shirt, their faces only inches apart._

_For a few seconds the two so stunningly dissimilar brothers just stared at each other, but as none of them was willing to cave in first and break the eye contact, Wyatt finally lost hi__s temper and threw the other to the ground. When Chris stood up again he had the taste of copper on his tongue and so he carefully felt his lips. The red drops of blood on his fingertips proved that he had fractured his upper lip._

"_Didn't __you say once that you would never hurt anyone of your family?" Chris spat on the ground contemptuously and then looked back into the face of his brother._

_Wyatt was slowly circling him now, never taking his eyes off of him._

"_So you're telling me you're in pain now? How pathetic. I guess I'll just have to show you what real pain is, then." With these words he went over to the edge of the platform, an energy ball forming in his hand._

"_Wyatt, what are you doing? Whatever it is, please don't!" Although Chris tried to sound calm, he couldn't stop the panic building in him from creeping into his voice. The grin on his brother's face when he turned around once more was enough to make the young whitelighter's heart skip a beat. Something horrible was going to happen._

"_No!" He screamed, but his voice was soon drowned out by the sounds of an explosion coming from the lanes beneath. Chris was beside Wyatt, staring below, before he had even realised what was happening._

_Debris was flying everywhere and where only seconds ago cars had been driving, a giant hole was now clearing the view on the wat__er. Several of the red steel cables had also been damaged and all that was now endangering the stability of the bridge._

_More and__ more pieces of the road were crashing down into the sea and desperate screams could be heard while the people on the bridge tried to get to safety. But from up here Chris could see all too clearly that there would not be enough time for those in the middle of it._

"_I've got to help them." He was already starting to orb to help the victims of the attack, but then he felt how something or rather someone pulled him back._

"_You're not going anywhere." Wyatt had whispered these words into his ear and although Chris kept trying to or__b, he soon had to realise that his brother's hold on him was just too strong to escape from it._

_It were only a few minutes until even the pier they were standing on began to collapse, but for the younger one of the two brothers it felt like an eternity while he had to watch the people beneath them dying, forced to stand idly by._

_In the very last moment, Wyatt orbed the two of them to safety, into the attic of the old house of their family, Halliwell Manor._

_The instant he had solid ground underneath his feet again and Wyatt had let go of h__is arm, Chris collapsed onto the couch standing there, trying to regain control over his body. His hands had started to tremble and he was shaking all over, but the young man tried to calm himself by recalling one of the many happy memories he associated with this place. _

_Here in the attic he had helped their mother countless times to find something in the __Book of Shadows or to brew a potion, but these days were long gone._

_Reality came back in form of Wyatt who was suddenly towering in front of him._

"_Do you know why all these people had to die today?" That was exactly the question that had been going through Chris' mind over and over again for the past few minutes, but he hadn't found any logical explanation to it and Wyatt didn't really seem to expect an answer anyway. _

_For the second time today his brother took a hold of his t-shirt and pulled him up so Chris was looking into his eyes._

"_Because of you. All __these innocent people died only because of you, so you finally learn not to play games with me. You're right, I won't kill or even hurt you, but I know you._

_There are __more than enough ways to cause you pain so you should better not provoke me. Do what I tell you to do, when I tell you to do it, 'cause there are a lot more bridges out there and you wouldn't want anyone else to suffer because of you, right? Never forget this, Chris, you belong to me."_

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Leo had vanished only about a minute ago, and Paige was already sitting in front of a city map, a crystal pendulum in her hand, ready to scry for her whitelighter.

"So, now all we need is something personal of his." An uncomfortable silence followed this statement and the sisters looked at each other, each of them thinking the same.

"We _do_ have something personal of his, right?" It was Piper who had broken the silence, but neither Phoebe nor Paige wanted to meet her questioning look.

"Chris has been our whitelighter for months and we have nothing here that belongs to him? That can't be possible."

"Perhaps there's something in the club. I could orb into the backroom of the P3 and take a look there," Paige offered.

While Piper was thinking about the offer, Phoebe let her eyes wander around the room, searching for something that might belong to the young man from the future. Suddenly something in the corner of the room caught her eye. She went over to pick it up and soon realised that it was the dagger her sister had only recently been stabbed with. Even Piper's blood was still on it.

The instant her fingers touched the metal, the young woman flinched, as the images of a vision pierced through her mind. She could see a dark haired demon, leaning against a wall of rock. A wound on his right side was bleeding profusely and she could see that his face was contorted with pain.

But the most notable things about him were his eyes which were glowing brightly despite the sparse lighting of his surroundings.

When the vision was over, Piper's voice behind her startled Phoebe.

"What did you see?"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"I thought I would find you here." Leo looked down at the young man, who was watching the brightly illuminated San Francisco, clearly concerned. Chris was sitting with his legs pulled up to his chest, like he had done in the manor.

"So, you want an award for your ingenuity now, or what?" Well, at least he hadn't given up on his flippant remarks. Leo guessed that was a good sign.

"No, I just want you to come back home. The sisters are worried about you."

"You said it yourself once, I'm not family. So that's not my home." Leo was surprised by the amount of emotion that lay in that simple statement. But he shook his head, not agreeing with Chris' answer.

"You've saved Piper's life today; that makes you family to _me_." In this moment, the young whitelighter turned around to him, a mixture of disbelief but also hope shining in his eyes.

But the look vanished as soon as it had appeared and Chris was once again as withdrawn as before.

"No, I didn't save her. I couldn't do anything against that demon, he was too strong for me. I don't know who…" His voice faded as realisation suddenly hit him as to who must have saved his mother.

"…Wyatt! He protected ou… his mum and injured that son of a bitch." In one fluent movement Chris was back on his feet and started pacing in front of a very startled Leo.

"I can't believe it! He's just a baby and yet he's stronger than me. So I'm no match for him in the future, ok, I get it, but here? That's not fair!" After his last turn he was now facing Leo and was giving him such an angry and reproachful look, that the Elder involuntarily asked himself how exactly that was his fault.

"But you did what you could, and if it hadn't been for you, if you hadn't called me, Piper still would have died." Leo couldn't tell since when he cared so much about the young man's wellbeing, but seeing him now so full of self doubt was suddenly unbearable for him.

"Yes, calling for help. Now _that'_s a talent." Chris let his head hang and was muttering these words now more to himself than to Leo.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing." There was silence for a few moments, while Chris thought about what he wanted to do now. There was still a task in front of him and he couldn't just run away. Sooner or later he would have to go back to the Halliwells.

Then he suddenly realised for the first time that his clothes were still drenched in Piper's blood and for a moment he thought he was going to be sick. Perhaps going back right now wasn't such a bad idea after all…

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Chris hadn't really believed what Leo had said about the witches, but they definitely had been worried about him. Piper immediately hugged him upon his return and thanked him for the rescue, but grudgingly Chris had to reveal to her, too, that not he but Wyatt had driven off the demon.

Deep inside he still couldn't believe he had been bested by a baby. Considering that, it was hardly surprising that he had an inferiority complex with his brother.

Then it was Phoebe's turn to tell him about her vision and the young whitelighter wasn't surprised that the demon in it was the same one that had nearly eradicated his existence. The sisters had already found him in the Book of Shadows and had written a vanquishing spell.

Chris would definitely use the time the others were gone demon hunting to take a very hot shower. A part of him feared that the blood would never go away.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The tunnel the Charmed Ones had appeared in was dark and moist, but in the direction they were going, a few torches were illuminating the area. Using the dagger, it had been easy to scry for the demon, but where Paige had orbed them there was only a trail of blood on the floor, which they were following right now.

All three of them were tense, expecting a demon behind every corner, but so far they hadn't met anyone. Phoebe was holding the piece of paper with the vanquishing spell so Piper and Paige had their hands free to attack, in case the demon would cause trouble despite his injury.

About fifty feet in front of them they suddenly noticed a figure on the floor. The male demon was lying with his back against the wall, but it wasn't clear if he was still alive or not.

The sisters approached him carefully, but dead or not, he didn't seem to pose much of a threat anymore. On the right side of the demon a large puddle of blood had formed on the ground and even as he noticed the witches, he only looked at them with half open eyes.

"You! I thought I'd killed you." His voice wasn't much more than a hoarse whisper, but upon seeing Piper, some life seemed to return to him.

"Don't try anything stupid with me, alright?" The oldest of the sisters had planted herself in front of him threateningly and was now looking down at the demon in disgust.

"I want to know why you tried to kill me. Was it just because I'm a Charmed One or was there more to it?"

"Why should I tell you anything? I'm dying and even if I weren't, you wouldn't let me go." The demon was clearly right with this observation, but he hadn't reckoned with Piper Halliwell, who was now slowly leaning down to him.

"You're going to tell me what I want to know, because if you don't I'll freeze you, so you can't die on me, and then I'll proceed to blow up every single piece of your body, one at a time."

For a moment the threat simply hung in the air while the demon seemed to ponder if the witch was being serious, but in the end he apparently believed her.

"There's a prophecy about you. Something about a child. I don't know what it says exactly, you'll have to go to the seer for that; maybe she'll even talk to you. I just know that the bottom line is that it would be better for all of us if you die. That's it."

That were the last words of the demon before he suddenly died and burst into flames. And while the Piper, Paige and Phoebe exchanged confused glances, the oldest of them could just think about one part of what the demon had said: 'All of us'?

To be continued


	3. The Seer

**Chapter**** 3: The Seer**

"And you're sure you don't want me to go with you?" Chris watched rather worriedly as the Charmed Ones were getting ready to orb into the underworld. It had taken him several weeks and a lot of persuasiveness to find the whereabouts of the seer and judging from everything he had heard she was not an enemy to underestimate. His concern for the sisters was one of the two reasons he didn't want to let them go alone.

"Don't worry, Chris, whatever we find out, you'll be the first to know." Paige gave the young man a reassuring smile and laid her hand on his shoulder for a moment, before she went over to her sisters.

Lately there hadn't been anything more important to Chris than finding the seer; he had been downright obsessed with it. He had even neglected the hunt for demons that might be a potential danger for Wyatt, and now that the time had come and they were finally paying her a visit, Piper had sentenced him to play the babysitter for Wyatt. No surprise that he was less than happy about it.

Paige glanced to her sisters standing left and right of her and noticed the worried expression with which Piper was looking at their whitelighter. All of them, but especially the oldest of the sisters had been concerned that Chris would go too far in his morosity. That had been the reason for her decision to leave him behind.

Paige nodded once more to the young man, then took the hands of her sisters and orbed them all into the underworld.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The cave the Charmed Ones materialised in wasn't very big and only dimly lit by a few torches on the walls. The sisters looked around curiously, but the cave was empty except from a strange pond in its centre. At first it seemed as if the basin was silver, but on a closer look they realised that its content wasn't water, but a strange silver-grey liquid.

Piper, Paige and Phoebe went closer to the pond and they noticed that although nothing seemed to trigger it, every now and again small waves rippled in circles across the surface.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Startled by this sudden interruption, the sisters spun around to face the new arrival.

In front of them stood a beautiful, rather sparsely dressed woman and was smiling at them friendly. Except from her black clothes nothing in her appearance indicated that she was a demon, but her strong aura revealed that she could be no one else but the seer herself.

She didn't seem to be planning an attack, but with demons you could never know. The witches had had enough bad experience to know that you could never let your guard down.

"You have to be the seer." Piper looked at the woman calmly, but her voice betrayed how tense she really was. The demon nodded and answered her casually, still smiling.

"And you have to be the Charmed Ones. I hear a lot about you down here."

"Well, we can't really say the same about you." Phoebe, who was also displaying a brilliant smile now, replied challengingly. If the seer wanted to play games, she could have it.

"Oh, that's because I really value my privacy. If everyone knew about me, I'd have the entire underworld standing on my doorstep in no time. I guess, everybody wants to know at least a little bit about their future, don't you think? Even you came to me for that."

The friendly smile hadn't left the seer's face for even a second, but Phoebe was sure to feel a hint of subtle triumph radiating from her.

The empath wasn't sure if Piper had noticed it, too, but her older sister clearly had had enough of this conversation. She didn't like it when demons were friendly, because you never knew what you were dealing with. It could be real, but more likely it was just a deception to attack in a convenient moment.

She preferred open hostility, at least then she knew how to react. Piper would have loved to blow the demon and her stupid smile up on the spot, but sadly they still wanted information from her.

"Actually, I'm more concerned about the present right now. Especially why all the demons of the underworld seem to be after me lately. Word is that you're the reason for that."

"Oh, I'm surely not the reason for it. It was rather one of my prophecies that set this chain of attacks into motion, but the reason for it all can indeed be found in your future. But I think it is only fair if you and your sisters learn why the demons aren't giving you a minute's rest lately…"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Chris was sitting on a chair in Wyatt's room, watching his brother sleep peacefully. His thoughts were constantly wandering to the sisters and the seer and with growing fear he kept thinking about what they might find out there.

The demons who had attacked them recently had had very little knowledge about the prophecy or had been dead before they could have been questioned. The only information Chris and the Charmed Ones had, was that it said something about Piper and a child and the whitelighter had a quite good notion as to who that meant. Would the seer give away his identity?

He had spent the last weeks trying to find her and now he was forced to sit back and wasn't there to prevent her from saying anything that should better stay a secret.

Sighing, he ran his hands over his face. It was no use to work himself up over this as there wasn't anything left he could do at this point. To get his mind off the issue he looked over at his small charge, who had woken up by now and was looking at him with big eyes.

Seeing Wyatt here as an innocent young boy would of course never erase the memories of the cruel tyrant he was in the future, but it always reminded Chris that in the here and now nothing had been decided. If he did his job right and looked out for his brother, things would go another way and his time could still be saved.

x x x

Leo had orbed into the hallway of the Halliwell Manor and had been on his way to Wyatt's room when he had noticed Chris sitting there.

He had stopped and was now leaning against the door frame, watching his son and the young whitelighter who obviously hadn't noticed him yet. Chris was trying to calm Wyatt, who apparently didn't want to stay in his bed anymore, with his teddy bear, but was clearly failing.

"The sisters aren't back yet?" Chris turned around, appearing perfectly calm, although he was completely startled. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed the Elder's arrival. What if he had said something to Wyatt that gave away his identity? In the future he had to be more careful to make sure if he really was alone.

"No, they're still with the seer, but I guess it won't be long until they're back." With that Chris turned back to his brother, in the vague hope that this information would satisfy Leo and cause him to leave again.

Even though their relationship had considerably improved since the first attack on Piper, he still felt uncomfortable around the Elder. The young man knew of course that it was unfair to blame the Leo from this time for his mistake in the future, but all the pent-up anger inside of him couldn't be laid off that easily.

And even though Leo might trust him now more than before, Chris could still detect a lot of doubt the Elder had about him.

"Listen, Chris, maybe it's a good thing it's just the two of us right now. I've wanted to talk to you in private for a while now, but with everything that has happened recently, there just hasn't been an opportunity."

Leo paused to give the whitelighter a chance to react, but Chris preferred to ignore him. He had given up on his attempt to get Wyatt back to sleep and instead went on to take him out of his bed.

"I've talked to the sisters and they said that you've never told any of them what exactly happened a few weeks ago." There was still no reaction from Chris, so Leo continued with a sigh.

"I mean when Piper was attacked and nearly killed. When I arrived you were hardly responsive anymore. You were obviously in some kind of shock and you..." Now Chris finally turned around to face Leo, Wyatt in his arms. His expression stated more than clearly that he did _not_ want to have this conversation.

"Yes Leo, I know what you mean. Believe me, I didn't forget it. But did it ever cross your mind that the reason why I never talked about this to anyone is, that I don't _want_ to talk about it? That just thinking about this evening brings back painful memories I'd rather forget? Do you think I liked to watch how my... how Piper got pierced by a blade and nearly died in my arms?"

The Elder had been afraid that this conversation wouldn't be easy, but he could never have anticipated this kind of reaction. He was completely dumbfounded and was just staring at the young man in front of him, not knowing what to reply to this.

Instead, his eyes wandered to Wyatt who had started to get restless during Chris' emotional answer and was now shifting in his arms. The young whitelighter was having trouble to hold on to him, so Leo went over and reached out to his son.

"Let me take him."

Without a word Chris passed the little boy over and turned away from Leo, running a hand over his eyes in the process. The Elder had already noticed that the young man was having tears in his eyes - whether from anger or sadness he didn't know – but he decided better not to mention it. Chris was already uncomfortable enough.

"What did you just want to say? To watch how your… what?"

Chris had meant to say 'my mother' and had barely corrected himself in time. But before he could even begin to explain his slip-up, a noise from downstairs interrupted him. Obviously relieved, the whitelighter passed Leo, heading to the stairs.

"That's got to be the sisters. I just hope the seer told them what this prophecy is about, or else all the trouble to find her was for nothing."

He was already on the steps when Leo went over to Wyatt's bed, put his son back in and then went on to follow Chris downstairs. He, too, was eager to hear what Piper, Paige and Phoebe had to tell them.

x x x

"You've really taken your time. I was beginning to worry that…" Chris had just arrived in the living room, expecting to find the Charmed Ones there and was appropriately surprised that instead of three petite witches, four, nearly seven feet tall demons were facing him.

He reacted instinctively and threw one of them to the ground with a flick of his arm, when another demon suddenly grabbed his throat and crashed the back of his head against the wall forcefully.

The sounds of the room went silent instantly and were replaced by a deafening rush in Chris' ears while everything around him seemed to get darker. Out of the corner of his eye he could see how Leo came into the room now, too, but was knocked out by a very hard hit in the face that sent him crashing back several feet.

The young whitelighter noticed vaguely how something ran down the back of his head and neck as the claw-like hand of the demon tightened around his throat, making it nearly impossible for him to breathe. Chris realised that unconsciousness what about to overcome him and tried to fight it, but that was everything but easy.

He wanted to focus and to clear his mind, but the numb feeling that was spreading from the back of his head wasn't helping at all.

Hot, foul smelling breath hit him, as the hideous face of the demon suddenly appeared right in front of Chris, and his attacker hissed threateningly:

"Tell me where the witches are! I'll rip your head off if you don't answer, so tell me!"

The whitelighter heard the words, but his foggy mind was unable to process them. Even if he had wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to give a coherent answer.

Without him being able to control it, images suddenly started to appear in front of is eyes. Wyatt, who called him a weakling; his father who turned away from him; Aunt Phoebe who hugged him, smiling brightly; Penny Halliwell, stating that he was a poor excuse of a whitelighter; Leo, telling him that he was family now; his mom, lying dead on the ground and finally Paige who orbed him to safety with her remaining energy.

Chris' real surroundings became increasingly blurred, but this last image stuck in his mind as everything else faded away. Since he couldn't breathe anymore, it wasn't much more than a whisper that escape his throat.

"Paige!" That was everything he was able to do, before unconsciousness claimed him at last.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Wow." That was the only thing Phoebe could think of, now that they had finally heard the prophecy. She looked over to Piper who was starring at the seer, disbelieve evident in her eyes.

"Are you serious?" The demon didn't appear to be joking, but the oldest of the Charmed Ones just couldn't believe it. Was something like that even possible again?

Her gaze wandered from the seer, who nodded shortly as an answer, to Phoebe, who appeared to be just as surprised as Piper herself, to Paige, who seemed to be kind of distracted.

She carefully put a hand on her younger sister's shoulder, startling her.

"Is everything alright?" Paige needed a moment to focus on her surroundings again, but then she shook her head resolutely.

"No, it's Chris, I think he needs us." Without hesitating, the youngest of the witches took her sisters' hands and orbed them back to the Halliwell Manor.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The Charmed Ones materialised in front of the stairs, just a few steps away from where Leo had gone to the ground. But before they were able to take a closer look at him, the demons suddenly noticed them and attacked.

The one who was still holding Chris up against the wall now let go of him and faced the sister, too. Judging from his more elaborate clothes, he was apparently the leader of the group.

Without the strength of the demon holding him up, Chris collapsed to the ground behind him, a large red stain on the wall revealing the seriousness of his injury.

One of the demons advanced on Phoebe, but she still had a very strong vanquishing potion in her pocket that she had taken to the seer, just in case, and she was now very glad she didn't have to use it earlier. The empath threw it directly at the demon, causing him to erupt into flames, screaming, and he was gone within seconds.

Another one of the attackers was now aiming a fireball at Paige, but she was able to orb out of the way in time.

In the light of the many recent demon attacks, the sisters had started to keep vanquishing potion like Phoebe's everywhere around the house, which had already proven to have been a very good idea several times.

Likewise, Paige managed to vanquish her opponent without a problem.

The third demon went for Piper, but he had barely made it a few feet, when she blew him up. Finally only the leader was left, but he proved to be more of a challenge than his men.

Piper tried to kill him several times, but her attacks didn't achieve more than just to slow him down. The demon grinned viciously, and threw a fireball at the witch, but he didn't reckon with Paige.

"Fireball!" The young half-witch, half-whitelighter reached out to orb the projectile and sent it back to its originator. He was immediately engulfed by flames and screamed in pain, but a few seconds passed and nothing else happened.

It almost seemed as if the demon would survive, but Phoebe reacted fast enough.

"Piper, now try to blow him up again!" The witch complied and this time it worked and the demon disappeared in an impressive explosion.

For a moment everything was silent and nobody moved, but then the situation finally caught up to them. Knowing that Leo could not have been seriously hurt by the demons, Piper hurried to Chris' side instead, horrified by his condition. She was kneeling on the ground beside him in a second and tried to find out how serious his injury really was.

"He needs Leo, fast!" Piper announced to her sisters, who were next to the Elder, trying to wake him up. It took several attempts, but Phoebe finally managed to shake his shoulder hard enough and Leo slowly woke up again. But he didn't even get time to remember what happened as the sisters pulled him instantly into a sitting position.

"Chris is hurt, he needs your help. Right now!" Looking into Paige's pleading eyes snapped the Elder back into reality and supported by her and Phoebe, he immediately got up and made his way over to the young man on the ground.

Leo fell onto his knees across from Piper and realised with horror that a puddle of blood had formed under the whitelighter's head, slowly getting larger. Out of the corner of his eye he could even see the red stains on the wall, but tried not to look too closely. Instead he laid his hands over Chris and focused on healing him.

Warm golden light emanated from them and within a few seconds the puddle of blood vanished and the wound on Chris' head healed.

x x x

Darkness surrounded Chris and although it had seemed menacing at first, now it suddenly possessed a strangely calming quality. He had been sure that he didn't belong here, that he had to fight against what was happening to him, but these thoughts had vanished bit by bit.

Deep inside there was still a part of him that wanted back – whereto he couldn't remember – but he had basically surrendered to his fate. It was quiet here, comfortable, he could just let go and something was telling him that he hadn't done that in a very long time.

Vaguely he could still see images of various people and places, but they had already lost all meaning to him. Now Chris was seeing a small blonde boy, not older than a baby, and he was sure that there was something important, something very important about him, but he just couldn't quite remember.

Chris was still trying to figure it out, when suddenly a bright friendly light erupted in the darkness. It engulfed his surroundings, penetrated his mind and with the light the memories returned.

Wyatt! How could he have forgotten his own brother?

Everything was back now and Chris realised what the light meant. He had been hurt and Leo was healing him. The whitelighter could feel his body again and he savoured the feeling as his lungs filled with air again.

For a moment Chris thought that he could still feel the claws of the demon that attacked him around his throat, but when he opened his eyes now slowly he could only see the relieved faces of his parents above him. Well, or at least as close to his parents as it could get.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Piper had gone upstairs to check on Wyatt and Phoebe and Paige had started to clean up the mess in the living room. And although Chris was still anxious to learn what the seer had told them, he was using this interruption to look up the demon that had nearly killed him in the Book of Shadows.

He had just found it, and the article said that they only worked together in small groups, so there would hopefully not be another threat from this side, when Leo walked into the attic.

Chris pretended to be still deeply absorbed in the book as the Elder passed him and went to the other side of the room.

He was at odds with himself, because he expected Leo to continue their conversation from earlier. On the one hand he really didn't want to talk about it for anything in the world, but on the other hand he was also sick of the questions.

Sooner or later even the sisters would want to talk about his reaction to the attack on Piper and the young whitelighter just wanted to put it behind him.

With a sigh he closed the Book of Shadows and looked expectantly at Leo.

"Alright."

"What?" Leo looked at the young man with genuine surprise. He was just up here so he wouldn't pelt the sisters with question until they were ready and he had no idea what Chris was talking about.

"The evening Piper was attacked. I'll tell you why I reacted the way I did and then we'll never talk about it again, got it? I don't care if you tell the sisters, but I want them to leave me alone, too." He waited for Leo's reaction, his face expressionless, until the Elder finally nodded.

"Okay, we'll never mention it again."

Chris ran his hands across his face and turned around to the window behind him. He just couldn't look at Leo right now.

"My mother", he hesitated and looked outside, searching for anything that he could mentally hold on to.

_Pull yourself together, will you? Just get __it over with and then you can try to forget it again._

Chris put a hand on the windowsill and started again.

"Piper is quite similar to my mother. They've got the same height and she also had long brown hair, just like Piper. But my mum is dead."

He could hear how Leo took a breath behind him, maybe even wanted to say something, but Chris didn't give him a chance to speak.

"She was killed many years ago by a demon, the same way Piper has nearly been killed; she was stabbed from behind." Chris had to take a deep breath before he could continue to speak. Both of his hands rested on the windowsill now and he noticed that he was beginning to tremble.

"It happened right in front of me, but I wasn't able to help her. I was barely a teenager at the time, but I should have done something, I…"

His voice broke and he just couldn't speak anymore. Chris knew that his whole body was shaking, but he couldn't help it.

He just couldn't think about this moment and his own helplessness without being overwhelmed by his guilt. If only he had done something, anything…

The whitelighter froze as he suddenly felt Leo's hand on his shoulder. He was afraid to turn around. What if there was the same accusation in Leo's eyes as it had been in his father's all those years ago? He wouldn't be able to bear it.

But never, in all his life would Chris have expected the words he heard next.

"I'm sure it wasn't your fault. You loved your mother, didn't you?" At this question Chris turned around instantly, looking as if he had been slapped.

"Of course I did!" Leo looked at him sympathetically. It was hardly surprising that the young whitelighter was always so withdrawn, if he had been carrying the blame for his mother's death for all these years.

"Well, then I can't see how any sensible person could ever blame you for her death, especially if you were that young. I wasn't there, of course, but I'd bet your mother wouldn't see it like that, either. After all, a demon killed her, not you."

Chris couldn't help smiling at Leo's choice of words. 'Any sensible person'. If he only knew…

x x x

After Chris had calmed down again, he and Leo had went downstairs and were now sitting in the living room with the sisters who told them about their visit to the seer.

Phoebe had made coffee for all of them and so Chris, too, was holding a cup as he listened to Paige's account of the meeting with the demon. Then Piper summarised briefly what the seer had explained in long and voluminous sentences.

"Well, basically the prophecy says that I'm going to have another child." _So far, so good._ That much Chris had already been expecting and Piper didn't seem to be completely sold on the entire thing anyway. This wouldn't be much of a problem.

"And… well,… that this child is going to be even more powerful than Wyatt."

Hot coffee and porcelain shards spread across the floor and all eyes focused on Chris who didn't even seem to realise that he had just dropped his cup.

All the colour had drained from his face and he seemed to have just seen the proverbial ghost as his gaze was fixed firmly ahead of him, avoiding the looks of the others.

"That… that's not possible."

To be continued


	4. The Truth And Other Solutions

**Chapter 4: The T****ruth and Other Solutions**

"What do you mean, it's not possible?" Paige gave the young whitelighter a questioning look, but didn't receive an answer. Chris wasn't even listening to her, but had started to pace up and down the living room, muttering silently.

"Why does she say something like that? It can't be true. But what if it is? ...No, nobody is stronger than Wyatt, least of all..." He interrupted himself just in time; no way that he would give away his secret about this. If it was even still possible to hide his connection to the Halliwells.

Now that they knew that Piper was going to have a second child it wasn't far to the conclusion that he might be this child. This prophecy seemed to be sabotaging all of his efforts to stay incognito.

x

"Is it really true, I'll have another child?" Piper looked at young man disbelievingly, who immediately stopped his pacing and returned her look indecisively. She could see his inner turmoil, unsure about how much he was allowed to tell them about the future. In the end he made up his mind and uttered a small "yes".

"And with whom... I mean... who is the father?" Piper's voice was merely a whisper and yet her question seemed to echo in the silence. Chris stared to the ground, because he couldn't look into his mother's eyes anymore and he also found himself unable to answer her question.

"Is it me?" Leo fought hard to stay calm, but he couldn't keep a slight tremble out of his voice.

x

The emotions in the room were so intensive that Phoebe was getting parts of them, even though her sisters and she also suspected Chris had taken the empath blocking potion. But she could barely tell who was feeling what.

Great joy, but mixed with insecurity and confusion, that had to be Piper.

Concern about these new developments; that could just be Paige. Why did it have to be a demon who told them about the new addition to their family? Nobody could blame her for being suspicious.

But the strongest emotion in the room was fear and it seemed to be coming from two persons. Leo had just been told that the woman he loved would have a second child, but would it be his, too? Phoebe could tell that this doubt was slowly driving him crazy, but Chris didn't seem to be in any hurry to answer his question.

As an empath she could almost physically feel how everything in the young man was tensing. Although be appeared completely calm on the outside he was in fact close to a panic. He hadn't wanted to let it come to this. His answer could possible damage the future irreparably, but he couldn't avoid it any longer.

An eternity seemed to have passed until the simple word "yes" came across his lips a second time and he all but collapsed onto the armchair behind him, sighing.

x

Piper didn't really know how to react to this new information. On the one hand she was very surprised; she had thought that things between her and Leo were over for good, but deep inside she was really glad that he would be the father of her second child, too.

The witch couldn't help but smile as she looked into his eyes and Leo returned the smile, gently laying a hand on hers. He had thought he had lost Piper forever through his 'promotion' to an Elder, but seeing as they had another child in Chris' time, his concern had obviously been unfounded.

But then a thought suddenly crossed Leo's mind that immediately destroyed his images of a future together.

"Chris, in your time, didn't I stay their whitelighter?" He motioned towards the sisters and looked at the young man questioningly. Already suspecting where this was heading, Chris answered only reluctantly.

"Well, uhm… yes, but…"

"And you don't think you might have changed the timeline a _little_ by setting me up to become an Elder?"

Crestfallen, Chris let his head hang. He had been afraid that this topic could come up one day, but he could hardly tell the others that the only existence he had risked had been his own.

"It was the only chance for me to become their whitelighter and the only way for me to protect Wyatt. You have to believe me that I wanted to get you two back together. Splitting you up forever is the last thing I wanted to do."

"You let us separate, you made Leo leave his family just so you could become our whitelighter?" Piper could hardly believe what she was saying.

"You wanted to protect Wyatt, I get it, but to save him you accepted the possibility of sacrificing his brother or sister? How dare you decide which one of my children is more important?" Piper's tone of voice had gone from shock to anger to contempt and she was now staring at the young man with fury shining in her eyes, completely unaware of who was really sitting there in front of her.

Chris kept his eyes to the ground, not able to stand his mother's glare. Dead silence filled the room until Phoebe suddenly took Chris' side unexpectedly.

"I think you two are doing him wrong." Chris' head snapped back up at this and he now stared at his aunt in slight bewilderment, just like his parents and Paige.

"I can feel that he's telling the truth, he didn't want to split you up for good, but he didn't see any other way. But concerning the child he is still keeping something from us." Phoebe looked directly into his eyes, before she continued.

"What is it Chris? Why isn't it possible that this child will become stronger than Wyatt?"

_She can feel my emotions again, so the effect of the potion is fading.__ Just good that I got more of it just in case._

To buy himself some time, Chris got up and slowly walked over to the window and, unknown to the others, carefully slipped a small vial out of his pocket. Running a hand over his face he managed to take a sip of the potion that would block Phoebe's power, without her or the others noticing.

He didn't have a choice but to answer her question, but he couldn't tell the truth and he didn't want the witch to catch him lying.

Phoebe wondered vaguely why she suddenly couldn't feel anything anymore from the young man, but since that was the normal state she didn't pay in much attention.

_They're awaiting an answer. Either I tell them who I really am, or I have a really good explanation why Wyatt's brother can't be stronger than him._

"It's not possible, because… because your younger son…" He looked over to Piper and Leo who were listening intently and all of a sudden Chris had the feeling that they were only seconds away from figuring him out. He would have to say something really convincing or they would probably never leave him alone.

"Because he's… dead." _Oh, great…_

Piper stared at him in shock, her hands clutched over her mouth. That couldn't be true, it just couldn't. Her son, her baby would die? How could that have happened? She barely knew anything about the future, but how could she have let something happen to her child?

The witch let her head rest against Leo's chest gratefully, as the Elder suddenly wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He could hear her sobs while her fingers dug into his shirt, searching for something to hold on to.

Completely in shock, Leo locked back and forth between his wife and the whitelighter from the future who had just ripped his heart apart with this news. One moment he learnt that he and Piper would have another son and in the next he was already informed of his death. That was _not _how this was supposed to work!

He looked back at Chris, who had his face buried in his hands. It was more than evident that he had never wanted to tell them this, but the prophecy and the sister's curiosity hadn't left him much of a choice.

Chris finally let his hands sink and looked at his parents sympathetically.

"I really can't tell you anything else, so I'm gonna leave you alone for a while now. Call me, if you need me."

He looked one last time at Piper, who was in tears and at his aunts, who didn't really seem to know how to react in this situation. They both had tears in their eyes and looked at their sister compassionately, but nobody said a word. Because in this moment there was nothing to say that could have eased Piper's pain.

White-blue light appeared as Chris orbed away, but nobody paid it any attention.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

After a few moments the light appeared again, this time in the backroom of the P3. At first Chris had wanted to go to his spot on the Golden Gate Bridge, but that was a place to calm down, and right now, he didn't want to calm down.

As soon as he had materialised, he grabbed the first thing in his reach, an empty glass bottle from the table, and threw it against the wall where in shattered loudly.

_Why? Why did I have to say something like that? Mum is so miserable and just because of me. In two respects, actually._

A humourless smile appeared on his face at the thought of the irony of this statement.

A half-full glass followed the bottle, leaving a quite impressive stain on the wall, but Chris was still furious. He threw the table over, wiped the contents of a shelf to the floor and even crashed a chair against the wall until his anger at himself had finally subsided.

Breathing heavily, Chris stood in the centre of the room and looked at the chaos surrounding him. Piper would surely want an explanation for this, but that wasn't important right now. There was nothing on her mind anyway, but the alleged death of her son.

When Chris remembered the pain in her eyes again, he was tempted to destroy another part of the furniture, but pulled himself together. That wouldn't change anything. He had to tell Piper the truth, admit that he had lied to her. But how could he get into her sight after that ever again?

Completely depleted he let himself fall onto the couch and ran his hands over his face. _Stronger than Wyatt._ The words of the prophecy shot through his mind unexpectedly.

All his life his brother had always been the stronger one of them. He was the twice-blessed child, the master of Excalibur. Not even once had Chris stood a chance against him. So how could this prophecy be explained? Had his actions in this time changed the future so drastically or had the seer been lying for some reason?

He had to get to the bottom of this and there was only one person who could help him with that. The same person who had set all this off.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"I was beginning to wonder when you would show up here." Chris had orbed in behind the seer, but she did not turn around to him.

"And here I thought you could see into the future. Shouldn't you have known that then?" Chris was beginning to get the faint hope that the seer might not be as good as her reputation had let him to believe. She was surely wrong about him.

"My predictions are usually concerning bigger things. I can't see every single detail, but believe me, your future is no triviality. And I'm absolutely certain about it." The demon slowly turned around to him now and looked directly into Chris' eyes.

"That is why you're here, after all, isn't it? You can't or won't believe what I told the witches. But I assure you, it is the truth."

Chris looked at the woman in front of him indecisively. She didn't appear to be playing any games with him, but was completely serious.

But there was something else that was still bugging him.

"Why didn't you tell them who I really am? I mean, you tell Piper that she's going to have a second child, but you don't tell her that I'm this child. Why not?"

"As I told the sisters before, I thought it only fair that they know why all the demons of the underworld are after Piper right now. As to you, your identity is your own business. You will have to tell the Charmed Ones yourself who you really are; I will not get involved in that."

One the one hand Chris was thankful for the seer's attitude on this matter, but on the other, she would at least have taken the difficult decision from him if she had told his mother and aunts about him. And he wouldn't have gotten himself in so much trouble with his family.

As if she had read his thoughts, which, now that he was thinking about it might have actually been the case, the seer suddenly looked at him knowingly.

"It would probably be easier for you if you stopped telling lies to your family. You should know by now that they don't like that."

"Yes, I know, but it's not that simple. There are so many things to consider, so much that could go wrong."

"There always is, but sometimes the truth is just the best solution. And I'm a demon, so if even I say that, there's got to be something to it." She smiled at Chris encouragingly, which only amplified her beauty, but the young man just stared at her suspiciously.

"That's exactly the problem, you're a demon. Why do you give me advice, what's in it for you?" Chris had grown up in the firm believe that demons were usually evil through and through, so why was the seer being this friendly and helpful? She had to be up to something.

"Well, if you have to know, I've seen the future you come from, the future that awaits us all should you fail here. Your brother has clearly become evil, but he didn't side with us demons, he is stronger than anyone else, good or evil.

If this future happens, he's going to kill everyone who might pose a threat to him or doesn't want to bow to him. The source has always accepted my independence, but Wyatt won't do that.

So, the better your relationship to the Charmed Ones is, the more you tell them important things about the future, the bigger is your chance to be successful. I'm really helping myself here in the long run."

Chris accepted her explanation, but was becoming frustrated that he had still not received an answer to what had initially brought him here.

"But what about the prophecy? How am I supposed to be stronger than Wyatt? Because I'm not! I've fought against him, but to no avail; he will always be the twice-blessed, while I'm just his kid brother."

The seer smiled sympathetically and even laid a hand on Chris' shoulder, affection evident in the gesture.

"I don't know how it will happen, maybe that will come to me one day, but I have seen how strong you will become. Believe me, Wyatt will not be a threat to you much longer." Her smile faded slightly and she seemed somewhat distant, before she continued to speak.

"You should better go now. There are a few demons on their way here and I don't really want everyone to know that I'm getting visits from whitelighters. But think about the advice I gave you."

"How can you…? Oh, forget it." Chris rolled his eyes and orbed out of the cave, only seconds before a group of ill-tempered demons arrived there.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Chris orbed into the attic of the Halliwells and let himself fall onto a couch. He only had the word of the seer to rely on that the prophecy was true and although she was a demon, he was slowly starting to believe her.

How long had he wanted to be able to stand up to Wyatt? As children it had only been normal rivalry between siblings, but after the death of their mother and Wyatt's… change it had become more and more of a necessity that someone would stop his brother and Chris had known that this responsibility was on him.

Piper's death had weighed heavily on their father; even if he had possessed the power, he wouldn't have lifted his hand against his son. So there was just Chris as his closest relative, but he had never been a match to Wyatt. Going to the past and stopping the future from ever happening had been his only chance, but if the seer was right…

His current plan was of course still the best option, because of all the victims that would be saved, but even if he failed he would still be able to stop Wyatt in the future. And the more powerful he was, the bigger his chance to succeed here. And if Wyatt ever managed to send someone to this time again, he would be prepared for it.

Suddenly Chris got back up from the couch and went over to the Book of Shadows. The seer had said that he would one day be stronger than Wyatt, but when would that be? And what did he have to do to increase his powers? There had to be some spell in the book to see the future to find out about all that.

If he ever had to face his brother again, he had to be sure that he would achieve more than before. His last attempt, before he had come here with Bianca's help, had nearly had fatal consequences for him.

The whitelighter shook his head slightly to chase away the memories of that day; he had to concentrate on finding that spell.

It only took a few minutes until he had found something fitting. _'To see your own future'_. The spell was kept a little vague, but Chris didn't need long to alter it accordingly. But before he used it, he made sure that the book was closed. He didn't want the sisters to find out that he had used a spell, especially not one that relied on the powers of their family.

Chris repeated the spell a few times in his head until he knew it by heart and then put the piece of paper he had used to alter it into his pocket.

The dark haired young man closed the door and went into the middle of the room. He took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on what he wanted to see.

"I call upon the Halliwells

Show me what's beyond time and space

Let me see my future's shape

Please grant me this act of grace

So I can find there's still an escape."

The instant the last syllable had passed his lips, everything went black in front of Chris' eyes. Before he could even form a single thought, he had already collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Piper was standing in Wyatt's room with her son in her arms, rocking him slowly. She didn't make a sound while doing it, but Leo who was standing at the door, could see the tears running down her cheeks.

A few minutes ago Wyatt had suddenly started screaming for no apparent reason, just as if he knew about the horrible news his parents had received.

Leo still couldn't believe what he had learned in the last hour. There was apparently still hope for him and Piper, but now that they knew about the early death of their son the situation was more than complicated. He wondered vaguely how much the timeline had been altered just by them knowing about it.

How much he regretted now to have pushed Chris like that. The young man hadn't wanted to tell them about his time and now Leo knew at least partly why. This stupid prophecy…

But his musings were suddenly interrupted when there was a dull noise from the attic, as if something or someone had fallen to the floor. He and Piper looked at each other and she immediately put Wyatt back into his bed, before they headed out of the room and up the stairs in a hurry.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

_Flashback:_

_Lost in thought Chris wandered through the rooms of his home. For years nobody had been living here, but he just couldn't think of this house any differently. _

_The fact that it was now a museum seemed like a sick joke somebody was playing on him, as if the only memories of the Halliwells were their belongings left in this building. In truth his mother had always seen her sons as her legacy to the future and they were both still alive._

_But despite that, this institution had been the magnificent idea of his brother. Wyatt had always been so incredibly proud of his heritage. After all, he was the son of a Charmed One and an Elder._

_But Chris still remembered how calm Wyatt had been after finding out about Piper's death. She had been something to brag about, but as a person she had never meant very much to him._

_For Chris it had been the end of the world, but for Wyatt it had just been the cha__nce to finally drop his façade. Only his brother had noticed how cold and cruel he could be at times, but after the Power of Three had been broken and nobody was there to stop him, he didn't bother anymore to hide anything._

_He had started to make a name for himself in the underworld and began to expand his control there and in the human world. Nowadays one could easily call him the ruler over both worlds._

_Chris had passed his old room, but nothing there indicated that he had ever existed. Same with the rest of the house. Several pictures always showed the sisters, Leo and of course their firstborn, but nowhere a sign of Chris. Wyatt didn't like to share his glory, not even with his own brother._

_Chris now stood in front of the virtual display of the Book of Shadows. A smile passed across his features and for a second he was tempted to call it, just to browse through the familiar pages once more, but that wasn't the reason he had come here. It would only give away his presence._

_His target was a glass case in the corner of the room in which several magical weapons were stored. When he had first seen the ornamented Athame, the young man had been surprised that Wyatt would leave something that powerful here, but he probably thought that nothing could pose a threat to him anymore._

_Chris stood with his back against the wall, preparing to break the glass. He knew the security measures in the museum; as soon as something was broken it wasn't possible to orb anymore and a few demons would appear to see what had happened. But Chris would be able to handle them._

_He used a chair to shatter the glass case; magic was registered in this building and that would just tip the demons off early. _

_As if on cue, __four large figures appeared in the attic and looked around, searching for the source of the alert, but then it was already too late for two of them. Chris vanquished them with two well aimed energy balls. He had to duck to avoid the attacks of the other two, grabbed the athame in the process and tried to get away into the direction of the door._

_The demons followed him, but Chris managed to kill them both on the stairs without being hit himself. He had nearly reached the front door when he suddenly ran into an invisible shield and crashed back onto the ground with a yelp of both pain and surprise._

_Still a little dazed the young man got back up, when someone came up behind him. He was pulled onto his feet and before he had any time to react, he was staring into the eyes of his brother._

"_Traitor!" Wyatt spoke very quietly, but Chris couldn't remember ever hearing such anger in his voice._

"_Did you really think you could hurt me with this? With this toy? Go on, try your luck." Without Chris moving so much as a muscle, his hand with the athame was suddenly between him and his brother, the tip of the weapon aiming directly at the latter's heart._

_He thought of all the murders Wyatt had committed, the friends he had lost because of him and tried to strengthen his resolution. But despite all of that, Chris' hand was trembling and he just couldn't bring himself to thrust the blade into his brother's heart._

_Seconds passed and nobody moved until Wyatt finally grabbed the athame from Chris and __shoved it forcefully into his left upper arm. _

_Pain shot through the young man and he cried out before he managed to pull himself back together. It took a moment until he was thinking clearly again and by then Wyatt had already pulled the weapon out of his arm again and passed it on to one of his demonic bodyguards standing behind him at the wall. _

_The dark haired whitelighter glanced at them and noticed to his amazement a woman in their ranks for the first time. She had to be damn good for Wyatt to accept her._

_His eyes lingered on her for a moment, but a hand on his throat made him focus back on his brother instantly._

"_I can't believe that the two of us are actually supposed to have the same parents. It's nearly pathetic how weak you are. __It's inconceivable that we are brothers. Usually I would kill you for what you were trying to do, but I guess that would only be a waste of my energy."_

_Wyatt glared at him for several seconds, obviously pondering what to do with his brother, and finally turned towards the demons._

"_Lock him up!" Chris wanted to ask Wyatt what he planned to do to him, where he would be brought, but before he even managed to say a word, the fist of one of the demons collided with his face, sending him into the realm of dreams._

_x x x_

_The first thing Chris noticed when he came to was the cold. He opened his eyes slowly, but the lighting didn't really improve. It was so dark that he could barely make out his own hand in front of his face. He could feel stone floor underneath his back and when he tried to sit up, he immediately remembered the wound on his arm._

_His breath caught in his throat as the pain pierced through him. He felt carefully for the wound with his right hand and noticed that his entire sleeve was wet with blood. Chris began to take off his jacket, but the cold had stiffened his limbs, forcing him to move slowly. __It seemed like an eternity until he had finally succeeded in wrapping the jacked around his arm to stop the bleeding for now. _

_The__ young whitelighter then tried to orb, but wasn't very surprise that neither that nor any of his other powers worked. So he just sat there, leaning against the wall, and tried to make out the size of his cell in the dark._

_It seemed to be about ten feet square, with the walls consisting __of solid rock, with no sign of a door visible. A faint light was coming through a small opening near the ceiling, but it was much too high to reach and probably latticed anyway. _

_Chris couldn't find any way to escape, but he didn't feel capable of going anywhere anyway. The pain in his arm had subsided to a dull throb, but he felt that he had lost a lot of blood. And then there was still the cold. He must have been here for quite a while already because it had chilled him to the bone and was slowing all of his movements. _

_Chris noticed that it was getting increasingly hard for him to form a clear thought and instead simple cravings like thirst and hunger became stronger. He hadn't drunk anything for a while and his last meal had been hours before he had broken into the Halliwell Manor__ in the middle of the night. And who knew how late it was now._

_Hours or maybe even days passed without the young whitelighter being able to even guess how many. He let his thought__s wander and every now and then he fell into a dreamless sleep, but he couldn't always tell the difference with the constant darkness around him._

_The hunger was gone by now, but Chris' hadn't paid him any mind, anyway. He felt much too numb to mind anything, really._

_A few minutes – or had it been hours – after he had woken up he had felt something running down his arm and had realised that his makeshift bandage had been soaked through. At first he had wanted to renew it, but then the importance had somehow vanished from his mind._

_When now a hidden door in the wall suddenly opened, Chris needed several seconds to register it, but even then he paid it no real attention. He could tell from the shape in the door that someone was standing there, but who was completely impossible to tell. Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice was trying to warn him, yelling 'Wyatt', but Chris wasn't capable to anything against the arrival._

_When the figure came closer and finally knelled down to him, he tried to move along the wall awkwardly, but didn't have a chance obviously._

"_Stay calm, Chris. I'm here to get you out of here, don't worry. I'll get you to safety, then Wyatt won't be able to harm you anymore." The figure carefully wrapped one arm around the young man and pulled him to a standing position. Very slowly they walked through the cell and into the corridor in front of it, towards freedom._

"_I'll make sure that you will be better soon. My name is Bianca and I'll take care of you."_

To be continued


	5. Darkness

**Chapter 5: Darkness **

When Piper and Leo arrived in the attic, the witch had expected to find at least one dangerous demon there. But from where she was standing, slightly behind Leo, the room seemed to be completely empty, coming as quite of a surprise to her.

"Piper!" The Elder suddenly cried out and when he rushed forward and kneeled on the ground, the witch had to revise her first impression. The room was not empty at all.

If Piper had only once in her life been sure to stand in front of a dead body, it had been in this very moment. Chris lay on the ground in front of her, his eyes open and was staring at the ceiling with an empty expression. His already pale skin had taken on an almost ghostly shade and his lips were tinged light blue.

_He is dead._ Piper felt like she couldn't breathe anymore and her knees threatened to buckle underneath her, so she let herself sink to the floor next to Leo. The Elder was leaning over the young man carefully and felt his neck for a pulse.

"Is he…?" A few terrifying seconds passed until Leo suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, he's still alive. But he's ice cold. Can you get him a blanket?" Piper nodded softly and went to get one from the couch, while Leo held his hands over Chris' chest and started to concentrate. But although he tried hard to heal the young whitelighter, nothing happened.

He tried again and again, but always with the same devastating result. Chris didn't show any reaction to his efforts, just as if he was really dead. But Leo had felt his heart; it wasn't beating very strongly, but it was beating and that was all that counted.

Piper had come back with the blanket and laid it now carefully over the motionless body in front of her.

"Why isn't it working?"

"I don't know. If I knew what caused this condition I might be able to help him, but right now I have no idea what to do." Leo looked the young man up and down, but stopped when he noticed something strange.

The left sleeve of Chris' shirt had taken on the dark red colour of blood, although the fabric itself was still in one piece.

Frowning, Leo carefully rolled the sleeve up, until a very deep looking wound appeared, startling both him and Piper. He could hear how the witch took a sharp breath beside him.

But how on earth had Chris managed to receive this injury? It looked very recent, but then why was the sleeve covering his arm still intact? Just like Chris' general condition, this didn't make any sense.

Leo tried to heal the wound, but it didn't work, just like he had suspected.

"Wait here, I'll get some bandages." Piper announced and hurried out of the attic immediately. Leo's gaze fell back on the young man's face involuntarily. Seeing him lying there with open eyes was kind of unsettling and Leo thought about closing them, but as that was something one usually did to corpses he stopped himself. He didn't even want to think about the idea of his successor here in the Halliwell house dying.

The Elder suddenly notice that they were still on the ground, so he carefully picked Chris up along with the blanket and carried him over to the couch gently. As soon as he had laid him on the cushions, Piper came rushing back into the room, a first aid kit in hand.

It was completely silent while Piper wrapped the still bleeding wound on Chris' arm. When she was done, her eyes stayed on the young whitelighter for another long moment, before the witch finally went over to the Book of Shadows. There had to be some explanation in there for Chris' condition. Maybe a demon had caused it.

x x x

Half an hour had passed since they had found Chris, but his condition had not changed in that time. Piper was still searching through the book for an answer, while Leo was pacing up and down the attic.

He hated being this helpless. As an Elder he possessed a wide range of different powers, but his ability to heal had saved the lives of the sisters and their allies more often than he dared to remember, making it his most important gift. Now that he couldn't do anything, Leo felt utterly useless.

But the tense silence in the room was suddenly broken when Paige and Phoebe came through the door and Leo realised in shock that both he and Piper had been too wrapped up in the situation to inform the two witches of what had happened.

"What are you looking for, Piper?" Phoebe asked, surprised to find her sister and brother-in-law up here. She had expected them still to be in grief about what Chris had told them earlier, but the tension in the room did not fit her expectation at all.

"Leo, is everything alright? What's going on?" Paige asked tentatively, but instead of answering her question, the Elder gestured towards the couch in the corner of the room.

The sisters followed his movement and what they saw made their breaths catch in their throats for a moment.

The youngest of the Charmed Ones ran over to the still unconscious whitelighter immediately, while Phoebe was rooted to the spot. Shocked, she turned towards her brother-in-law.

"Oh my god, is he…"

"No. We, or rather Piper is trying to find out what's wrong with him."

"Do you think he's been attacked by a demon?" Phoebe looked from Leo to her older sister sceptically, but Piper just shrugged. "I mean what would a demon gain by leaving Chris in this state?"

"I don't know, Phoebe, and I haven't found anything to support this idea, yet, but what else could it be?"

But before the empath could reply anything to that, Paige suddenly chimed in on the conversation.

"Ehm, guys, I don't want to interrupt, but I think you can ask Chris yourselves. Looks like he's waking up."

x

When Chris slowly came back to consciousness, he didn't know at first where he was. The cold that had surrounded him in Wyatt's captivity was gone, although he still felt frozen to the bone.

Now he was lying on a soft underground and tried to concentrate on the voices around him. He vaguely remembered a woman saving him. Bianca. Was she here?

The young whitelighter tried to determine who was talking, but at first it was hard to remember the faces matching the voices. Then somebody suddenly took his hand and he savoured the warmth spreading from the touch. It also served to anchor him back to reality.

"Chris, can you hear me? It's me, Piper, please look at me."

Chris tried to open his eyes, but after a moment he realised in horror, that they were already open. He blinked several times in panic, but nothing changed. He was blind.

x

Piper had taken a hold of Chris' hand and noticed rather surprised, that he tightened the grip while fighting his way back to consciousness. He blinked several times and turned his head around, but without really focusing on anything. But in the end it was the young man's first question that genuinely startled Piper.

"Where am I?"

A few seconds passed until the witch managed to answer.

"You're in the attic, don't you remember it? I'm Piper and these are my sisters Phoebe and Paige and that…" Piper pointed at herself and the others in turn, but Chris interrupted her immediately.

"No, that's not it. I know who you are and everything, but… I… I can't see. I'm blind."

x

Leo didn't want to believe his ears. The young whitelighter couldn't just have said that. It wasn't possible that he was blind; or was it?

But the way Chris' gaze shifted across the room, how he was looking at nobody directly just supported his statement. And now that Leo looked more closely, he realised that the green of the young man's eyes had taken on a strange milky shade.

"What happened?" Paige finally asked the question that had been going through everybody's mind.

Chris sat up carefully and ran his hands across his face before sighing and answering hesitantly.

"I used a spell. I wanted to see into the future to find out if there's any truth to the seer's prophecy, but it didn't work. At least not as intended."

"What do you mean by that?" Piper looked at Chris puzzled, only to realise that he couldn't even see her expression.

"I wasn't concentrating properly. Instead of seeing what I wanted to know, I was just remembering something… different."

"Did you get hurt in that memory?" Now it was Chris who gave Piper a puzzled look, although he was looking only roughly in her direction.

"Why do you ask?"

"Your arm." To make sure he understood her correctly, the witch tentatively touched Chris' left arm, just underneath the bandage she had applied earlier.

Chris flinched under the unexpected touch. He hadn't expected this damn spell to have such dramatic repercussions. Now that his body was starting to get warm again, he began to feel the injury at his arm and was just glad that he hadn't been hurt any worse back then.

It was Phoebe's voice that interrupted his thoughts.

"Leo, why didn't you heal him?" Yes, Chris thought that was a very valid question. He turned his head expectantly in the direction he assumed his father in.

"It didn't work. I tried several times, but my powers didn't achieve anything." Granted, that was not the answer Chris had been expecting. This spell really proved to be much more insidious than he had thought. Next time he would think twice about just rewriting anything from the Book of Shadows.

"But now that you're awake I should probably try again." Careful not to aggravate the injury or cause any more pain, Leo slowly unwrapped the bandage and exposed the quite deep stab wound.

Chris could hear Paige muttering "ouch" under her breath and couldn't help but smile at her sympathy. A pleasant warmth spread though his arm while Leo healed the injury.

"Strange." Chris noticed the weird tone of the Elder's voice.

"What's strange?"

"The wound left a scar that I'm not able to heal, no matter how hard I try."

"Forget it; it's too late for that, now. Back when I actually got hurt there was nobody there to heal me, so I'm just gonna have to live with that scar."

Leo had the vague sense that this was about more than just a physical injury, but he didn't want to pry into that right now. They had more pressing matters at hand.

"Alright, but then let me have another look at your eyes. Maybe I'll be able to heal them now, too."

But as hard as Leo tried, he was not able to restore Chris' vision. After a few minutes and several unsuccessful attempts, the young whitelighter was starting to have enough of it.

"Stop it! That's enough. You realise that it doesn't work, right? Just give it up!"

"But, Chris, Leo is only trying to help you."

"I know that he's trying, Piper, but he isn't actually helping. My eyes aren't getting any better, not at all."

Phoebe, Paige and Leo all backed away a little when Chris suddenly jumped to his feet, but Piper grabbed his arm to get the young man to sit down again. But to no avail.

Chris had gotten up and was now trying to go into the direction of the door, although that proved to be everything but easy with Piper still holding onto his arm. And added to that came the problem that he wasn't even sure if he wasn't really headed towards a wall or the windows.

"Piper, let me go!" He wanted to shake his mother's hand off, but then a sudden dramatic change of his environment pushed everything into the background.

He could see again.

They were in the attic, as Piper had said and everything was illuminated with bright sunlight. Chris was standing close to the door and Piper was kneeling in front of him, busy picking up the shards of a broken vase.

_When exactly did that happen? I was blind, but not deaf._

Now Leo came over and started to help Piper, while Paige and Phoebe were skimming through the Book of Shadows, obviously searching for something.

"Chris, you really should let us help you. We'll surely find a way to cure you, but until then you just will have to rely on us." Phoebe hadn't looked up from the book, but she apparently thought that he was still blind, so that wasn't very surprising.

The expression on Chris' face turned from slightly to extremely confused. What was going on here? Why was he suddenly able to see again?

There were several other things that didn't make sense, but the sudden appearance of a demon behind Paige and Phoebe claimed all of his attention instantly.

"Watch out!" The sisters and Leo all looked up from what they were doing, but before anyone had a chance to react, the demon had already seized its chance and thrown a fireball at the witch still kneeling on the ground.

x

"Piper!"

"What?" The witch looked up at the young man, startled by the urgency in his voice.

"A demon, there's a demon over at the window." To his horror, Chris had to realise that the darkness around him had returned, so he just motioned wildly in the direction where he suspected the window.

"Calm down, there's nobody there. And how do you even want to know that?"

"Because I saw him. After all he just attacked you!" Silence followed these words and Chris didn't have to be able to see, to know that the sisters were exchanging confused and concerned glances. They probably thought he was going crazy now.

Paige did her best to get the situation back to normal.

"I think we should look into the Book of Shadows and see if we can't find a way to heal your eyes. What do you think, Phoebe?"

"Yes, that's a good idea. I'll help you." Chris could hear how the two of them went over to the book. He still had no clue what was going on, but he didn't like the way things were proceeding at all.

Taking advantage of the general confusion, Chris finally pulled away from Piper's grasp and made a few steps to get some distance to her. But he stopped when he ran into the edge of a table and felt immediately that he had knocked something over.

There was a weird sound of something getting into motion, and after only a short moment, that motion ended with a loud crash on the ground directly beside the young man's feet.

He could hear how somebody, most likely Piper, came over and kneeled down beside him.

"Be careful, Chris. You knocked over a vase and now there are shards everywhere. Just stay where you are for now."

Somebody else, judging by the heavy footsteps it was Leo, walked over, too and started to help Piper, causing Chris' discomfort to turn into a full grown panic.

"Chris, you really should let us help you. We'll surely find a way to cure you, but until then you just will have to rely on us."

Even if he hadn't recognised her voice, Chris would have known that this was Phoebe talking.

"Phoebe, Paige, get over here! A demon is going to appear over there any second now; you just have to trust me, please!"

Still confused by Chris' words, but alarmed by the urgency and panic in them, the two witches complied and walked over to stand beside Chris. The Charmed Ones and Leo all continued to stare at the Book of Shadows and the space behind it, curious to see if anything would happen.

And sure enough it were only a few moments, until a demon materialised there. He had obviously expected to find the witches unprepared and was all the more surprised to see them waiting for him.

But the surprise lasted only about half a second; exactly the time it took for Piper to blow the demon up.

Chris could tell that everyone present was staring at him now, even though he couldn't see them.

"How did you know that?"

x x x

"So, you're blind, but you can see the future? Did I get that about right?" Paige looked rather confused from Chris to the others, looking for confirmation. In the end it was the young whitelighter who answered.

"Yes, that's what it appears to be."

"Wow. Well at least that's something."

"Paige!"

"What, Phoebe? Of course I want him to be able to see again, but honestly, Chris really saved our butts just now. We would have been done for had he not warned us in time."

"Piper."

"What about me?"

"You would have been done for. The demon wanted to attack you."

"Oh, not again. I can't even turn around anymore without some demon standing behind me. As soon as we've fixed you, we'll really have to do something about this."

Piper gently laid a hand on Chris' shoulder, trying to cheer him up. And apparently it worked, because the young man's face lit up visibly.

"Then there's just the question of how we do that. There's no mention of this in the book, neither how Chris' condition is even possible, nor what we can do about it. Do you have any ideas, Leo?" Phoebe looked at the Elder expectantly, but he hesitated a few seconds until finally speaking.

"There has to be a connection to the spell Chris used." He looked directly at the young whitelighter now, even though he was aware that he didn't notice it.

"You have to tell us which one you used, or I don't think we'll be able to help you."

Panic started to built in the young man, but he didn't have time to think of an answer, as he was already back in the middle of a time shift.

He, Piper and Phoebe were still sitting on the couch with Leo and Paige standing in front of them, but now everyone's attention was fixated on the Book of Shadows.

A strong wind was sweeping through its pages until it suddenly stopped and stayed open at a certain page. Piper was the first to shake off her surprise and walk over to the book, closely followed by her sisters.

"It's been forever since it last did that.", the oldest sister remarked quietly.

The Charmed Ones gathered in front of the Book of Shadows and looked down at the open page, an expression on their faces that Chris was unable to read.

With a strangely monotone voice, Piper began to read.

"To see your own future". She looked up from the text and right into Chris' eyes before continuing.

"This spell calls upon the powers of the Halliwells."

To be continued


	6. New Hope

**A/N: ****By now the events of 'The Legend Of Sleepy Halliwell' have happened, except the shaman, of course. The sister, Leo and Chris know about Magic School, but Gideon doesn't know yet that Wyatt is going to turn evil and isn't planning anything against him.**

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**Chapter ****6: New Hope**

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With a strangely monotone voice, Piper began to read.

"To see your own future". She looked up from the text and right into Chris' eyes before continuing.

"This spell calls upon the powers of the Halliwells."

x

Chris was speechless, but before he even had the time to think of any kind of reaction, he was back in the here and now, which also meant that he was blind again.

He was sure that like the last time he would only have little time to prevent what he'd seen from happening. The sisters couldn't find out who he really was; not now and especially not like this.

The look on Piper's face after she had read the text from the Book of Shadows had hit the young whitelighter unexpectedly hard. There had been shock, of course, but also several other emotions, most prominently disappointment. The instant their eyes had met, Chris had felt like he had betrayed her.

All of a sudden he became aware of the silence in the room and remembered that Leo had wanted to know about the spell he had used. And Chris also knew that the Book of Shadows would show it to them anyway, so lying was out of the question. But maybe he could at least tweak the truth a little.

"I used a spell from the book. It was meant to see into one's own future, but since it's the time I'm from, I thought it would work anyway. There was a part about the powers of the Halliwells which I left out, of course, and then I changed the rest of it in my head. But after what happened, I'm having trouble remembering how exactly."

Chris let his head hang, but lifted it again immediately when he heard one of the others standing up and going over to the Book of Shadows. It was Piper as he now learned by her voice.

"It will probably help if we know the spell anyway. I'm going to look for it." But she suddenly halted in her steps and Chris could hear a strong air draft and the rustling of paper.

"It's been forever since it last did that." The oldest of the witches hesitated a second, but then continued to go over to the book, her sisters following.

"What is it?"

"That's got to be the spell you used, Chris. It really calls upon the powers of the Halliwells and is supposed to show the own future. But I'm afraid it's not going to be of much use, without knowing how it's been changed."

"So are you saying there's nothing we can do to help Chris?" Paige looked at her older sister incredulously.

"I mean it's dangerous enough in this house, even if one can see, but blind? He's not gonna last a day!"

"Hey! I'm present, you know?" But the witches preferred to ignore their whitelighter anyway.

"Paige is right, Piper. We can't give up this easily."

"And I never said anything about giving up. But you're right, Paige, it really is far too dangerous for Chris to stay here. We should probably get him to Magic School, where it's safe."

The young whitelighter had listened to the debate rather calmly up to this point, but now he'd had enough of it. The sisters and Leo flinched visible when a table lamp suddenly exploded loudly. The anger that had pent up in Chris was making his powers go haywire.

"That's enough, okay? I'm sitting right over here, just in case you've already forgotten, and only because _I_can't see _you_, it doesn't give you the right to go on and pretend I'm not here.

You should have noticed by now that I still have my powers, so I'm not defenceless, damn it! And most importantly, I'm able to see the future. I've already saved Piper's life once; you would be foolish to give up having this ability at hand by sending me to Magic School. So you might wanna rethink this decision."

The Charmed Ones exchanged a surprised glance. Chris' little rant had caught them all by surprise, but even without speaking a word, they quickly decided what to do next…

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Chris huffed indignantly as he fell into one of the comfortable armchairs in the library of Magic School. He clearly had overestimated his own powers of persuasion.

On the one hand he was definitely touched by his family's concern, but on the other hand he still found it stupid of them to bring him here.

Back in the attic, Paige and Phoebe had linked arms with him left and right, pulled him off of the couch and had declared that although it was brave of him to put himself into danger for their sake, they were still the Charmed Ones and could look out for themselves. Piper had agreed to that and insisted that they get him to Gideon immediately, because he would have been in too much danger in the manor.

Now Chris was sitting here and already had the inkling that right now Paige was heading to a date with Richard, Phoebe was on the phone with Jason for hours and Piper was about to meet the fireman or some other guy. Although now that she knew she was supposed to get back together with Leo, she might cancel her other dates for the time being.

But in any case, Chris had the feeling that the sisters were not working on his problem. Why else would they have been in such a hurry to get him out of the house? As long as they were with him he wasn't even in any danger. They were certainly having other plans.

But the sudden sound of steps approaching pulled Chris out of his thoughts. Had the young man been able to see, he would probably have been rather confused by the empty room in front of him, as Gideon was once again walking around invisible.

"Oh, Chris, there you are. Leo already told me about your problem and of course I will do everything in my power to help you. But he also told me that a spell you used has caused this. So please explain to me, young man, why none of us Elders, except Leo apparently, had been informed of the fact that you are part witch."

Chris thought about what he could answer to this. He barely knew Gideon, but then again, he was an Elder; if he couldn't trust him, then whom could he trust?

"I had been afraid you wouldn't have let me become the sister's whitelighter, if you had known. But although I don't have the ability to heal, it's absolutely vital for the future that I'm close to them."

"Are you sure that that's the only reason?"

"What… what do you mean?" Chris cursed himself inwardly for beginning to stutter, but Gideon had caught him completely off guard with this question, and the fact that he couldn't see the other man's face wasn't exactly helping.

"I mean, that apart from Patricia Halliwell and her whitelighter, and of course Piper and Leo, there has never before been a lasting relationship of this kind. If you have come here to save Wyatt, I assume that he has meant quite a lot to you in your time and that on the other hand, added to the powers you have inherited, leads me to believe that you are related to the Halliwells one way or another."

Chris didn't know what to reply to that. A part of him wanted to deny everything and protect his secret, but another part knew that this was probably a unique opportunity. Gideon was certainly very discreet and as an Elder he also knew the dangers of changing the timeline and would not be interested in altering it anymore than Chris had already done.

But the young whitelighter didn't have to reply anything, as Gideon already continued.

"You could be Phoebe's son, although I doubt that as she has never shown any interest in a whitelighter so far.

Paige is much more likely to be your mother, or, of course, you are Piper's son. Wyatt's brother. Please, tell me if I'm wrong with this."

Chris could feel Gideon's presence right in front of his face now. He knew that the older man was staring right into his eyes, and even without actually seeing it, he found it hard to withstand the glare.

"Nobody can know about it, not the sisters, not Leo and none of the other Elders. You have to give me your word on it."

"You are Wyatt's little brother, aren't you?"

"Your word." Gideon hesitated a second, but then he took a firm hold of Chris' hand.

"So be it. You have my word that nobody will hear as much as a syllable about your ancestry from me. You will tell them when the time is right." Chris exhaled audibly and was clearly much more relaxed when he proceeded to answer Gideon's question.

"Good. And you were right, Wyatt really is my brother. I take it Leo has told you about the seer's prophecy?" Gideon nodded, but then remembered the situation and replied with a small "yes".

"So I tried to find out if she was telling the truth by using a spell that should have shown me the future. But as you can see it didn't work out quite as planned." Chris gestured at his eyes and then ran his hand across his face wearily. He was tired.

Gideon seemed to assess his condition accurately, because the next time he spoke his voice was surprisingly gentle.

"You look exhausted. I guess it would be best if you take a rest for a while. Come, I will take you to one of our guestrooms." He helped Chris to get up and then led him through the various corridors of Magic School, while he continued to talk in a hushed tone.

"I understand why you want to keep your parentage a secret, but ever since I've known the sisters I have realised most of all that they don't like to be fooled. And if you're not careful with all the lies you tell them, you might someday find it hard to see the truth beneath them yourself."

But Chris was so tired that he was only half listening to the Elder. The room Gideon took him to was decorated very comfortably and after Chris had dropped down on the bed, it took less than three minutes for him to be sound asleep.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Piper looked first over at Phoebe then at Paige. Both witches had their heads propped up on their hands and were thinking intently, but so far none of them had come up with a sensible idea.

The three sisters were sitting on the couch in the living room, while Leo was pacing the room restlessly. Piper tried to ignore him as good as possible, but that turned out to be much harder than she had anticipated.

"Leo, could you please sit down, you're driving me insane." Either he didn't hear her, or he simply chose to ignore her, but the Elder continued walking anyway. That is until a sudden movement of Piper's hands stopped him. Completely.

"Piper!"

"What? I told him to stop it. I just can't concentrate when he's pacing like that; it's making me mad. And we need to finally come up with an idea to restore Chris' eyesight."

"What do you think he saw?" Paige turned to her sisters, but received only blank looks.

"Who?" Piper asked.

"Chris, of course."

"When?" Phoebe wanted to know.

"When he was… well, unconscious. He said he remembered something that had happened to him in the future, and by the looks of it, he was seriously injured back then. So, naturally, I'm curious about what happened."

"Perhaps it had something to do with Wyatt and that's why he didn't want to tell us." Phoebe looked over at Piper apologetically.

It couldn't be easy for a mother to hear that her child would become evil one day. But she seemed surprisingly composed, even as she added another possibility.

"Or it was something about my younger son. Do you think Chris was there when he died? We know so little about the future, but this stupid boy just refuses to tell us anything. How are we supposed to help or even trust him if we don't know what he's been through. Horrible things must have happened in his time, but it's not doing anyone any good to just bottle it all up."

At this point Piper had to break off as tears threatened to overwhelm her. Phoebe, who was sitting beside her, pulled her sister gently into her arms and hugged her tightly.

"It's alright, Piper. We're not gonna allow anything to happen to one of your sons. And we'll also find a way to help Chris. We know now that something terrible is going to happen, that means we can prevent it. It's the same as with my visions; if we know something's going to happen, we can change the future."

Piper was sobbing uncontrollably now, but Phoebe's words were giving her some hope again. Maybe everything would end well after all.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Chris was dreaming.

_He was lying on a makeshift bed and slowly came to, still feeling dizzy. He let his eyes wander across the room and noticed a small fire crackling in a slightly crumbled fireplace at the opposite wall. _

_The entire room was in a __pretty rundown condition, with holes in the wooden floor and the plaster on the walls nearly non-existent, but despite that it was surprisingly clean and tidy._

_The young whitelighter felt incredibly weak and when he ran a hand across his face, he noticed that there was a thick layer of sweat on his skin._

_A sudden movement at the door caught his attention and he saw a young, dark-haired woman enter the room. She was carrying a bowl of water and a piece of cloth and hadn't noticed yet that he was awake._

_Chris was absolutely certain to have seen her before, but as he couldn't remember __when and where at the moment, he chose to pretend to still be asleep for awhile._

_The young woman approached the bed now and carefully sat down beside him, trying not to wake him. __She doused the cloth in the water and proceeded to wipe Chris' forehead with it, prompting him to choose this moment to open his eyes. _

_The woman was startled when her patient suddenly stared up at her, and he utilized her speechlessness to talk first._

"_I… I know you. You work for my brother, don't you?"_

"_My name's Bianca and if I were loyal to Wyatt, I wouldn't be here; you know that. But it's true, until a few days ago I was part of his entourage, until I decided not to let you die in that dungeon._

_The moment Wyatt finds out I'm the one who freed you, my life won't be worth a cent."_

"_Then why did you do it?"_

"_I'm not a demon, I'm a witch. I don't like what he's been doing, but I thought it safer to serve Wyatt than to oppose him. But maybe, if we work together, we might have a chance to stop him." _

_Chris scrutinized her silently until his eyes came to a sudden halt at her wrist._

"_You're a phoenix-witch." It was a statement, not a question. "You're assassins, aren't you?"_

"_Listen, I've done things in my life I'm not proud of, okay? I wish I could make most of it undone, but I can't." She took a deep breath before continuing._

"_When we first 'met', if you can call it that, in the museum, I felt a kind of… connection between us. Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't feel it." Chris held her gaze for a few moments then answered resolutely._

"_I can't, 'cause I felt it, too. I don't know if we, or anybody really, stand a chance against my brother, but we have to at least try. And the next time I will not hesitate."_

_Bianca smiled and clasped his hand gently, holding it until the whitelighter had fallen back to sleep._

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

It was pitch black around him when Chris woke up. Still half asleep, he fumbled for a bedside lamp, as he suddenly recalled the reason for the darkness.

Crestfallen, he led himself fall back onto the cushions, when a voice beside him suddenly almost gave him a heart attack.

"Good morning, sleepyhead."

"My God, Paige! You scared me half to death."

"Oh, excuse me very much, but how am I supposed to know you're this jumpy." The witch laughed and got up from the chair she had moved beside the bed.

"I can't see you, remember? Believe me, you wouldn't think it funny, either, if I suddenly appeared out of nowhere the moment you wake up."

"Alright, whatever."

"Why are you even here?" Chris ran a hand through his hair absentmindedly and tried to straighten it somewhat. Couldn't she have given him at least a few minutes to wake up properly?

"Piper sent me. She wanted me to ask you if everything is alright and she also gave me some fresh clothes for you." With that she threw a pile of clothing onto the baffled young man's lap.

"She also said I should bring the dirty laundry right back."

Chris understood the implied demand and fought his way out of bed tiredly. He turned towards Paige expectantly for a moment, but she didn't seem to understand what he wanted from her.

"Would you be so nice and wait outside, then? Or at least turn around?"

"Alright, alright, I'll turn around." Silence.

"You didn't move, Paige. I can hear that." Chris told the witch exasperatedly.

"Spoilsport! Fine, I'm waiting outside." The young man waited a few moments until Paige had closed the door behind her, then began to change slowly. It was harder than expected without being able to see anything, but he was starting to get the hang of it.

x x x

Five minutes later Chris opened the door of his room and handed his dirty clothes to his aunt waiting outside.

"Tell Piper I'm fine, but I hope you're making some progress in finding a cure or something. I have to be able to see again, or how am I supposed to protect Wyatt?"

"I get that, Chris, but don't forget that it isn't our fault you're blind. Magic isn't something to be fooled around with." Chris had to smile at her words unconsciously. How often had he heard this phrase in his childhood?

"Believe me, Paige, I know that. I've had some pretty good teachers in the future."

The youngest of the Charmed Ones scrutinized the whitelighter in front of her thoughtfully. He had been through more than enough; he truly didn't need her lecture about the possible consequences of magic. Those he was getting to know first hand at the moment.

Paige laid a hand on Chris' shoulder encouragingly and tried to sound as optimistic as possible.

"The others and I will come back soon and I'm sure we'll have good news by then. We'll find a way to restore your eyesight and until then," she tousled his somewhat straightened hair to light up the situation a little, "no funny business! Well, I'll _see_ you."

She smiled sadly and added silently "And you me, I hope", before orbing away.

Chris stayed in the corridor for a few minutes after Paige had vanished, the tinkling sound of orbing still in his ears. And as he stood there, he could have sworn that he had seen something blue glistening in the darkness for a second.

To be continued


	7. Powerless

**A/N: If I remember correctly, it was the 7****th**** season of Charmed when we were finally given some more information about Magic School. As I have written these chapters originally years ago, before that season aired here in Germany, I had very little to work with and just made a lot of background information up. Seeing as I really like that part of my story, I've decided to let it stay, but I just wanted to say that I realise it contradicts the show.**

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**Thanks to everyone who has read this fanfiction so far and especially to those of you who have taken the time to review. I love reviews so thanks a ton for that!**

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**Chapter 7:**** Powerless**

"I give up! There's nothing in the book we could use to heal him." Piper slammed the Book of Shadows closed with a loud thud and then ran her hands across her face.

"I just don't know what to do and I hate being this powerless." Leo went over to the witch and laid his hands gently on her shoulders.

"That's not true and you know it. I don't know anyone I would call less powerless than you, Piper. Ok, there's nothing useful in the book, so what? That doesn't mean that even one of us has to give up."

Piper savoured the feeling of Leo's strong hands on her shoulders and actually began to relax a little. How much she had missed this…

But after only a moment she straightened herself again. There were more important things to take care of right now.

"You're right. I'll try writing a counter-spell to the one in the book."

"But didn't Chris change it." Leo pointed out. Irritated, Piper turned around to him and looked at the Elder accusingly.

"I know that, too, alright? But do you have a better idea? If so, then let me hear it; I'm open to any suggestion."

The oldest of the Charmed Ones was now standing only inches away from Leo and glared at him angrily. The Elder didn't know what to say, until another mood change of Piper threw him off even more.

She started to cry.

The witch tried to conceal the emerging tears with her hands, but failed miserably. She cried silently for a few seconds, her shoulders trembling, until Leo pulled her into his arms all of a sudden. He held Piper close, while gingerly stroking across her hair with one hand, trying to calm her.

"Sh, everything is going to be alright. I promise."

"How can you promise something like that?" Piper looked up at the Elder with tear-stained eyes. How could he be so sure?

"Because I know that you and your sisters will find a way. You have always managed to find a solution to the problem at hand, and that isn't going to change now."

The two looked deeply into each other's eyes. Piper had missed Leo's encouraging words so much. And the way he held her in his arms…

Of course the Elder had been in her house a lot of times after their break-up, but it hadn't been the same. And just by looking into his eyes, the witch knew that he felt similarly.

While looking at each other, their faces unconsciously got closer. When only a few inches separated their lips, Piper hesitated briefly. After all they were officially separated.

But then she decided to just throw all caution to the wind and kissed Leo passionately. The witch wrapped her arms around the Elder and deepened the kiss even more.

It was like an eternity to both of them as they stood together, until Paige suddenly interrupted the situation. The young witch had orbed into the attic without either her sister or Leo noticing.

"Uh, hey guys. Am I interrupting?"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Chris was holding onto Sigmund's arm, as the two of them were slowly walking through the halls of Magic School. As it was break now, young witches and wizards were passing them constantly and the whitelighter had the strong impression that there wasn't a more interesting topic for them than him at the moment.

Everywhere they seemed to be whispering about him. They were probably inventing the most adventurous stories about how he had lost his vision, because surely no one had told them and now it was left to their imagination to find an answer.

Sigmund had insisted that Chris wouldn't spend all day in his room, and so had persuaded him to take a walk. But by now the young whitelighter wasn't so sure anymore that this had been a good idea.

At first it had been nice to stretch his legs, but the more the school came to life, the more everything started to grate on his nerves.

Ever since he had gone blind, he had started to rely more on his other senses, like hearing, but in this crowd that wasn't of any use. Not too long ago, one of the students had barged into him so forcefully, that Chris would have fallen to the ground, had it not been for Sigmund's help.

The wizard seemed to realise that the young man was feeling uncomfortable and headed towards a less frequented part of school.

"This is the dining hall for students and teachers. Lunch is over, so there's no one here anymore, but I will go to the kitchen and see if they don't have something for us anyway. I don't know about you, but I could certainly use a bite to eat. I'm actually nearly starving."

Sigmund led Chris to one of the tables so the younger man could sit down. Judging by the echo of their steps, the hall had to be enormous. Today's number of students certainly didn't even nearly fill it.

It were only a few minutes until the wizard came back with two plates, but although Chris was really hungry by now it took him forever to finally eat something.

Working with a knife and fork without actually seeing what you were doing was far more difficult than expected. The young whitelighter could only hope that the sisters would arrive soon, and with a cure this time. Even thinking about the possibility that his condition might be permanent was making him sick.

Sigmund tried to lighten the mood with a conversation, but Chris wasn't exactly the best dialogue partner at the moment.

"Did you know that this school has existed for over one thousand years now?"

"No."

"Well, yes, it has."

"Interesting." Sigmund was obviously one of those people who didn't recognize sarcasm, even if it hit them right in the face.

"Very interesting indeed. Gideon is its 61st headmaster and has been for over two hundred years. That is indisputably the longest term in office so far, although one has to consider that Gideon is the only Elder who has ever led this school.

The other headmasters before him have only been ordinary witches and wizards, although I don't mean to say that they have been ordinary people. Quite the contrary actually; among them have been some of the most extraordinary witches and wizards who have ever lived."

Chris' thoughts began to wander, while the wizard illustrated the history of Magic School, its most important headmasters and the different magical characteristics of its architecture. He was so wrapped up in his discourse that he paid little mind to his companion.

The young whitelighter unconsciously asked himself how long he would have to stay here. Although everyone was very friendly towards him and there were definitely worse places to spent time, he just wanted to go back home. This whole situation was confusing enough for him, and he longed at least for a place that was familiar.

All of a sudden Leo's words after the attack on Piper, when he couldn't stand being in the manor anymore, came back to him.

His father had told him to come back home and that he was part of the family now. There were no words to describe how much that had meant to him.

Ever since Chris had come to this time, there had been several problems with the sisters and Leo, but now it seemed as if they had finally accepted him and that they even liked him. It was as if he was finally having a family again, after all these years.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Paige had just told Piper and Leo about her visit to Magic School, all the while watching amusedly as the two exchanged hidden glances repeatedly. She had always hoped that they would get back together and now their mutual concern for Chris seemed to achieve just that.

It was really astounding that the young man from the future, who had caused their break-up in the first place, was now responsible for their reunion.

"Why are you grinning like that?" Piper had her arms crossed in front of her chest and was staring at her younger sister challengingly.

"Me? I'm not, or is there anything worth grinning about?" This reply left the older witch feeling completely dumbfounded and she noticed a light heat rushing into her cheeks. But she pulled herself back together immediately.

"No, of course not!"

"Oh really? My mistake then." Paige smiled at her sister and Leo one last time, before her expression got serious again and she returned to the real issue at hand. Chris.

"I don't think Chris is very happy that we shunted him off to Magic School."

"But Paige, we didn't shunt him off. You know as good as all of us that in this house there can be an attack at any moment and it's just safer for him this way."

"Piper is right. We can't simply rely on Chris seeing any attack in advance and we can't watch him every second." Leo added, but the young witch shook her head dissentingly.

"But you do realise that you're putting Piper in danger with this, right? After all Chris has foreseen an attack on _her_ and it was certainly not the last we have to expect."

Leo wasn't sure what to answer to that. Just a few weeks ago he probably wouldn't have hesitated to put the young whitelighter in danger, if it had served Piper's safety, but now things were different. Chris had opened up to them a lot lately and he had proven his concern for Wyatt and also especially for Piper more than enough.

He was protecting the two people that meant everything to Leo and had thereby become a part of his family, too. As much as the Elder was worried about the love of his life, he couldn't put Chris in danger with a clear conscience.

Piper seemed to feel similarly, because it was her who now answered Paige.

"You want to protect me, fair enough, but it's okay to put Chris' life on the line for that?" Now it was Paige's turn to blush.

"That's, ehm… well… no. No, of course it's not, you're right. It's just that the demons have never targeted one of us specifically for such a long time. At some point everyone makes a mistake, even you, and I'm just afraid that they will manage to catch you off guard."

"That's really sweet of you, Paige, but I'm doing fine and it's not like I'm alone in this, right? I know my family's watching out for me."

Piper looked to her side, startled, when Leo suddenly took her hand and looked at her encouragingly.

"Yes, we're here. And I promise you that we won't let you down."

Still a little surprised by this unexpected gesture, the witch turned back to her younger sister.

"You see?"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

_A board in the floor creaked __when the young man stepped on it. He had been here for a while now and started pacing slowly, trying to clear his thoughts. He was nervous. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this; it was probably the first time now._

_Things were changing. It wasn't just his own emotional state that worried him, but his environment was changing, too._

_He couldn't have pinpointed anything specific, but he was sure that the world was different than it had been a few weeks ago. Surely no-one except him had noticed it so far, but then again, nobody had such a sense for magic as him. Nobody._

_Up here, he hadn't found anything out of the ordinary, so he continued to go downstairs into the formerly inhabited part of the house. When he came to the living room, he halted in front of a shelve full of photos and looked closely at the smiling people in them without showing any emotions himself. _

_Most of the pictures showed the faces of three young women, a blond man and an equally blond boy. _

_He looked at them for a moment, but when he wanted to turn away and continue his stroll, something made him pause again._

_He turned back to the pictures, but this time he was only interested in a rather small one standing further in the back, nearly hidden by the other photos._

_He took it in his hand and the emotionless expression on his face was replaced by unconcealed fury. A loud clash sounded when he threw the picture to the ground forcefully, and the glass scattered in all directions._

_Before he orbed away he glared for one last time at the smiling faces looking up at him from the ground. The three women, the man and the blond boy were there, but beside the woman with the long brown hair there was another child. She had wrapped her arms around the maybe ten year old boy and was smiling as proudly as only a mother could._

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Chris was lying on his bed in the guestroom he was occupying in Magic School and was letting his thoughts stray. He had his eyes closed and appeared to be sleeping, but it didn't make a difference to him if they were open or closed, anyway. There was always darkness around him.

The whitelighter ran his hands across his face wearily. In this condition he was completely useless. He had come to this time to protect Wyatt, but how was he supposed to do that if he couldn't even protect himself?

The seer must have made a mistake with her prophecy; it was unimaginable that he would ever be stronger than Wyatt. His brother would never have made such a disastrous mistake while using a spell. Not Wyatt, the mighty twice-blessed.

Chris sat up in bed and wanted to swing his legs across the edge when he suddenly felt extremely dizzy. He tried to grab the corner of the bed to steady himself, but the wood of the frame seemed to slip away from right underneath his fingers. His vision had returned, but the colours around him were swirling and made it impossible to make out any details.

It only were a few seconds until everything had settled again. The young man looked around and realised that he wasn't in Magic School anymore, but back in the Halliwell Manor, in the kitchen to be exact.

The last time shift hadn't shown him a demon attack, just prevented his identity from being discovered, so Chris wasn't sure what to expect now.

He moved through the house carefully, but at least down here there was nobody. Finally it was Paige's voice coming from the hall that caught his attention.

Chris went to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at his aunt who was coming down the steps. She was talking to someone on the first floor, probably Piper, but he couldn't tell for sure.

The whitelighter had expected the young woman to be very surprised to see him here, but even as she came down the last steps, she didn't appear to have noticed him. Chris wanted to step aside to let Paige pass, but in that moment she had already walked through him as if he consisted of nothing but thin air.

Startled, Chris looked down at himself, but his body made a perfectly solid impression. Since he was actually in Magic School and not, as during the last time shifts, at the place he saw in the future, this was obviously just some kind of astral projection, without anybody being able to see him.

Chris turned around to see where the youngest of the Charmed Ones was going and saw how she vanished into the kitchen. For a moment he was rooted to the spot. Where should he go? Follow Paige or go up to where his mother supposedly was?

After a few seconds he made his decision to go upstairs; down here there was no-one but Paige and he wanted to know how his mother and Wyatt were doing.

x x x

When Chris entered Wyatt's bedroom, he found his brother sleeping peacefully. It was kind of strange. For months he had been here, worrying about who might want to harm the young boy, and now that things were heating up, it was his own existence in peril, not Wyatt's.

But as everything here seemed to be alright, the whitelighter went on searching for Piper and finally found her in the attic with Leo. She had put up a kettle and was busy concocting a potion while Leo sat on the couch, watching her.

Chris realised with surprise that Piper glanced at the Elder repeatedly, a strange expression on her face. He didn't know why, but the whitelighter was certain that there was something going on between his parents. _Finally!_ He remained standing in the door and watched the two with a smile on his face, leaning against the doorframe.

Was it this he had been meant to see? If Piper and Leo were back together, he would certainly find out soon enough, there was no time shift necessary for it. No, he had to be here for something else.

Chris watched the attic anxiously and let his eyes wander through every corner. Maybe there was already a demon in the room, hidden and waiting to attack at an opportune moment. He could only hope that the wooden floor would betray anyone who tried to sneak around here invisibly.

A few minutes passed and the young whitelighter had just started to relax when he suddenly made out a little noise in the silence. It sounded as if something under tension was being pulled, a string drawn back.

For a heartbeat Chris couldn't quite place the sound, but then it hit him. A crossbow. A darklighter had to be here.

Even though Chris knew it would be futile, he wanted to shout a warning, as everything suddenly happened very quickly.

Neither Piper nor Leo had so far realised the danger they were in, but when they heard a strange creaking noise they both looked up startled and the Elder got up from the couch. But before they could do anything, a pained scream sounded from downstairs, unmistakeably from Paige.

Everybody's eyes went to the door and this moment of diversion was everything the so far hidden assassin needed.

A darklighter appeared out of nowhere and although Chris screamed loudly to warn his parents, nobody reacted until it was too late.

The young man's eyes widened as he watched his father getting hit by a crossbow bolt square in the chest. The two of them had never been close, but Chris froze at the prospect of losing him, especially now that their relationship was improving.

Leo sank to the ground immediately and Chris was at his side in an instant. After Piper had blown up the darklighter, she too kneeled down beside the Elder.

She had tears in her eyes and the young whitelighter could see why. The bolt had hit Leo's heart. He looked up at Piper for a second, his eyes glazed, but before he even managed to utter a single word, his head rolled to the side. Leo was dead.

Piper buried her face in her hands and cried silently, but after only a few moments she got back up again. She went over to the door and down the stair and Chris couldn't help but ask himself what could possibly be more important now than Leo, but then he remembered and immediately felt ashamed for forgetting.

Paige! She had cried out in pain and was probably hurt badly or maybe even worse. The whitelighter followed his mother down the stairs, but before they were even one floor down, his surroundings started to blur again.

After a few seconds he was back on his bed in Magic School, but he still felt dizzy. As he had been in the process of sitting up before the time shift, his position wasn't exactly stable and in the darkness that surrounded him again, he couldn't find the edge of the bed right away. And so, with a dull thud and several expletives, the young man landed on the floor.

x x x

"Gideon!" Chris ran through the halls of Magic School, constantly tracing one hand across the wall to not lose his orientation completely. He had to get back home to warn his father and the sisters, but he was still blind. And added to that came the fact that Leo and Paige were attacked almost simultaniously and he couldn't be everywhere at one.

"Gideon!" Once again, even louder this time, he called the name of the Elder. Why didn't he hear him? Time was running out for him and especially for his father.

"Gideon!" A few minutes had passed already since his time shift and Chris was starting to get afraid that he would be too late. If this stupid Elder didn't show up immediately, he would have to go alone.

"Chris, what in the world is going on here? Why are you screaming like that?"

"I've just experienced another time shift. Leo and Paige get attacked almost simultaniously, but she's in the kitchen and he's in the attic. I can't warn them both. You have to orb to Paige and save her, now!"

Gideon looked at the young man startled, but before he managed to say anything, Chris had already vanished in a swirl of blue orbs.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Piper was standing in the attic of her home, busy preparing a potion for Chris. She was hoping ardently that it would be able to help him, although she knew the chances weren't very high.

In addition to that came the fact that she was constantly distracted during the preparation, 'cause even when she wasn't looking, she knew that Leo was silently watching her.

They had barely exchanged a word since their kiss and the tension in the room was palpable now. Every now and then Piper turned around to the Elder, and their eyes met, but she had to concentrate. There would be plenty of time later.

A strange noise distracted her again. It sounded familiar, and even though it was too quiet to place it correctly, it was still enough to alert the witch. Leo had obviously heard it too, because he now got up from his seat, but before he could say anything, the events suddenly started to rush.

In the same moment as the loud scream of a man could be heard from downstairs, Piper saw a swirling light appear directly beside Leo.

x

When Chris materialised the only thing he was certain about was being in the attic. Hopefully he wasn't too late. He had heard a scream from downstairs, this time not from Paige but a man, and he could only hope that it had been the attacker and not Gideon.

Chris had just appeared completely and was about to warn his parents of the imminet danger, when an unbearable pain suddenly pierced his back. He must have orbed right between Leo and the darklighter and the latter hadn't noticed him in time and fired his crossbow anyway.

The young whitelighter wanted to cry out, but only a constricted gasp managed to escape his throat. The bolt must have pierced his lung, as he wasn't even able to breathe properly anymore.

Struggling for air, Chris fell to his knees and only at the edge of his conciousness he heard the explosion and the short scream when Piper made the darklighter explode.

He was beginning to feel lightheaded, but it couldn't be because of the lack of oxygen, as he was only having trouble breathing for a few seconds.

But then he remembered that darklighter arrows were poisoned and this poison was now spreading through his body. He had been injured by a darklighter before, but he didn't remeber that the poison was working this quickly.

Several hands gripped his shoulders now and tried to prevent him from falling to the ground completely. Chris could feel how Piper laid her hands gently around his face and lifted his head carefully.

"Chris, can you hear me?" Not able to speak, he only nodded slightly.

"Leo will heal you, but we have to remove the bolt first. Try not to move, okay?" The young man nodded again and tried to brace himself for the impending pain.

The voices around him were getting fuzzier, as if somebody had filled his ears with cotton balls, but Chris could hear Leo getting ready to pull the projectile out. But before he had even touched it, Piper interrupted him suddenly.

"Wait!"

"Why, what is it?"

"But bolt is poisoned, but it only works against whitelighters and Elders, right? I think it would be better if I pulled it out." Leo just looked at her for a second, but finally nodded his head.

"You're probably right."

Chris vaguely noticed his parents changing positions and that it was Leo who was now steadying him. The immense pain that was still coursing through his entire body and the dazed feeling that was spreading from the poison had exhausted him so thoroughly, that he wasn't even able to stay in a kneeling position on his own anymore.

His father had wrapped his arms around him to keep him in an upright position so Piper could pull out the bolt.

"Hold it tightly and then pull as hard as you can." The witch nodded shortly in acknowledgment and then readied herself.

"Alright, on three. One… two."

To make sure it was over as soon as possible, Piper already pulled at 'two', but that didn't make it any easier.

The ragged scream that erupted from Chris' lips was so full of agony that Piper felt as if her heart was about to break. Even though she wasn't the one who had shot him, it was her who was now causing him so much pain.

When Piper pulled the bolt out, Chris' body cramped completely and Leo could feel how the young man's hands clenched behind his back. But as intense as the pain had been, as fast it was over.

The Elder saw the poisoned bolt in Piper's hands and in the same moment the body in his arms relaxed again, until it became completely limb. Chris had lost consciousness and was now only held by Leo who lowered him onto the ground carefully to heal his wound.

The Elder held his hands above the whitelighter's back, but it took extremely long for the wound to finally start to heal. Leo concentrated harder and had to use nearly all of his power until he managed to heal Chris completely.

Piper looked at him confused when Leo sat on the ground, clearly exhausted.

"What's wrong?" The Elder shook his head unsure.

"I don't know why, but it was extremely hard to heal him."

"I think I have the answer to that mystery." Startled, Leo and Piper turned to the door where Gideon had just appeared and was looking at them knowingly. Behind him Paige was standing and tried to look past the headmaster of Magic School to see what had happened in the room.

x x x

After the two Elders had carried Chris over to the couch, they and the two witches gathered, with everyone's attention directed at Gideon. He sighed heavily, before finally starting an explanation.

"I have been hearing rumours for quite a while now about a new poison the darklighters are developing. It is said to be absolutely lethal to all whitelighters and also Elders, of course. Once applied, it can not be cured." Gideon wanted to continue, but was interrupted by Paige.

"We're lucky they haven't finished it yet, then."

"I'm afraid that is where you are wrong, Paige."

"What?" The others asked simultaneously.

"Is that supposed to mean that Chris will…" Piper looked over at the young man, who was still lying motionless.

"No, it is not. The fact that he is only part whitelighter, but also part witch has saved his life for now. Although I do not know if the poison has already been removed from his body or not. We will only know for sure if he will live when he wakes up."

"And if there's still some of the poison in his blood? Is there no way to neutralise it?" Paige looked at the Elder hopefully, but was already expecting the worst.

"I am afraid not. Leo has healed him as far as possible. It is now up to Chris if he can fight off any potential residue of the poison, or not. Depending on how strong the witch side of him is, or if the whitelighter part dominates. There is nothing more we can do for him."

All eyes were now directed at Chris who was still lying on the couch and they noticed with horror that a thin layer of sweat had formed on the young man's forehead and that his face was scrunched up as if he was in heavy pain.

To be continued


	8. Farewell

**Chapter 8: Farewell**

Phoebe was leaning against the attic wall, and watched the whitelighter who was still lying on the couch, unconscious. She had been in her office until now to finish her column in time, and had only now learned what had happened.

She shook her head about the young man's forcefulness. Hadn't they sent him to Magic School to keep him safe? And now he was lying here and nobody knew if he was even going to live to see another day.

What had he been thinking, orbing here alone, blind, even though he knew that a darklighter was in the attic. He could hardly have done anything more stupid. Or more heroic.

The empath wiped a hand across her face, as, without her being able to stop it, tears had started running down her cheeks. If Chris hadn't had materialised at the critical moment, Leo would have been hit by the darklighter arrow, which would have meant his certain death.

Paige had told her about the new poison the darklighters were using, which was absolutely lethal to whitelighters. The young man from the future was only still alive because he was half witch.

"Still no change?" Phoebe flinched slightly as Piper suddenly entered the attic and also looked over at Chris, too. The oldest of the sisters frowned; their whitelighter was apparently making it a habit to sustain not-healable injuries and to slowly recover from them up here. If only she could be angry at him for that, but his second habit, saving the lives of her and her family was making that impossible.

Without Chris, Leo as well as Paige would have been killed today, as the younger witch had also been attacked by a darklighter, and only Gideon's interference had prevented her from getting hurt, too.

Piper looked over at Phoebe and noticed that her sister was trying hard to conceal that she had tears in her eyes. Touched by this sight, Piper went over to her and hugged the empath tightly.

"Chris is going to be alright, I'm sure of it. After all he's part witch and you know that nothing can get us witches down that easily."

Phoebe interrupted the hug and held her sister at arm's length.

"What happened to you that you're this optimistic all of a sudden?" Piper smiled sheepishly and tried to avoid Phoebe's gaze when she answered.

"I just realized that you can never give up hope, even if you think something is already gone for good. Miracles can still happen."

There was a tinkling sound that caught the sisters' attention and they watched as Leo orbed into the room. He had been to the other Elders with Gideon to inform them about the new threat. He looked at Piper and returned her smile, causing Phoebe to stare at him in shock.

"Oh oh oh, I'm getting some pretty strong emotions here. Now I get it, you can never give up hope, right?" She looked at Piper knowingly and even winked at her, much to the embarrassment of the older witch.

"Ok, Phoebe. But didn't you just tell me that you wanted to help Paige downstairs in the kitchen? You know, with that thing?"

"What thing?"

"Well, _that_ thing." Sometimes Piper really marvelled how her sister could be this slow at the uptake. But then the penny finally dropped at last.

"Oh, you mean that _thing_? Yeah, right, I had wanted to help her with that. I'm going downstairs then, so if anything should come up, or you need anything…" While she went towards the door, the witch turned around to Leo and her sister several times, although the latter was wearing an expression that told her all too clearly to get the hell out already.

The instant Phoebe had vanished through the door, Piper wanted to fall into the Elder's arms, but he was strangely uptight.

"Piper, I…"

"Later!", she whispered softly and silenced Leo with a kiss while wrapping her arms around his neck. He responded to the kiss for a moment, but then he pulled back from her embrace and pushed the witch gently away.

"Piper, please, this is important."

"Alright, shoot!"

"Gideon and I have informed the other Elders about the new poison the darklighters are using and it was decided that all whitelighters and especially all Elders have to stay up there for the time being until we know how to react to this." And after a second's hesitation he added, "I just came back to say goodbye."

Completely overwhelmed by this news, Piper pulled back from Leo completely and stared at him dumbfounded.

"So that means you're leaving again? And here I thought that we were actually getting closer again, or did I just imagine that?"

"No, you didn't, but I think that the concern of the others is justified. Maybe it wasn't even a coincidence that the darklighters choose me as their first target for the poison. Maybe they were also here because of the prophecy and know, or at least suspect that I'm going to be the child's father. If I stay here I'll only get you all in additional danger; you see how badly that can end."

He gestured in the direction of Chris, who had been moving restlessly for a while now, as if he was having a bad dream.

x

_He was back in the alley. After the sisters had futilely tried to make contact with Leo, he had to tell them that the Elder had been missing for some time now._

_Well, he was missed by everyone, but himself. After all it had been him who had banished Leo to Valhalla and he was not exactly sad about his father's absence. _

_In the future the Elder had always acted as if he was omniscient and the young whitelighter enjoyed it very much to see him being this clueless in this time. And although Leo might suspect him to be the one who sent him to Valhalla, it didn't matter what the Elder thought of him._

_But the witches would not rest until they had found him and that would jeopardize all of Chri__s' plans. Now they had to find Leo as soon as possible, so they could get back to hunting the demon that was responsible for Wyatt's change._

_Chris could still remember his words after his failed attempt to stop Wyatt. He had promised Bianca that he would not hesitate again, that he would ruthlessly kill his own brother, to save the rest of the world. But he had not thought that he would ever kill an innocent for that goal. He wouldn't have dreamt of it and still that was exactly what he had just done._

_He walked slowly over to the Valkyrie lying on the ground, crouched down next to her and took hold of the pendant she was wearing._

"_Forgive me." It was not even nearly enough to express his grief over his deed, and yet he didn't know what else to say._

_With a heavy heart he ripped the pendant off for which he had just __committed murder and Leysa – Leysa, a name he would never forget – vanished instantaneously. They hadn't exactly been friends, but she hadn't seen his betrayal coming. A flick of his wrist and her heart had stopped, that was all it had taken to kill the Valkyrie._

_Chris tried to remind himself that her pendant was the only way for the sisters to get to Valhalla, and there had been no other way to obtain one, but that didn't diminish his guilt at all._

_He had come here to prevent the atrocities of his brother and had become a murderer himself in the process. All he could do now was to get help for the wounded police officer the Valkyrie had come for, and after he had done that he threw a last glance at the spot where his victim had vanished before finally leaving the area._

_But no matter how far he got away, the memory of his actions would always stay with him. One day, his karma would probably catch up with him, and somehow Chris even hoped it would._

x

Piper was standing in Wyatt's room beside her son's bed and was watching him sleep when Leo entered. He knocked lightly on the open door to alert her to his presence, but the witch stayed with her back to him.

She knew he was here to say his final goodbye and she had no idea when she would see him again. Until the Elders made a decision it could take forever, she knew that much from personal experience.

Leo sighed over Piper's stubborn behaviour, but then walked slowly behind her and laid his arms around her. He knew that she was angry because he had to leave again, but he still wanted to say properly goodbye to her. The Elder could feel the witch tensing in his arms, but she relaxed again after a few seconds.

Without getting out of his embrace, Piper now turned around and laid her arms around Leo as well. They just stood like this for a while, until Piper finally broke the silence.

"I understand why you have to go, but…"

"I know. I would rather stay here, too, but it's just too dangerous at the moment. I've already said goodbye to your sisters and they weren't happy about me leaving, either, but I won't be gone forever. Just until we find a way to protect ourselves against this new threat. But you have to promise me something." With that, he gently took a hold of Piper's chin and lifted her head until their eyes met.

"If one of you is in danger, even if a darklighter is involved, you have to call for me for help. Promise you won't hesitate." Piper looked at Leo for a long moment, seeing his determination, and nodded slightly in the end.

"I promise." As if to seal the promise, the Elder intensified the embrace and pulled the oldest of the Charmed Ones into a passionate kiss. Not willing to part again, both of them forgot everything around them and left Wyatt's bedroom in the direction of Piper's.

When the door snapped shut behind them, the little boy woke up from his dreams for a moment, but the muffled sound coming from the other side of the hall didn't bother him any further. He just turned around and had fallen back asleep within seconds.

x

Gideon was sitting with his hands folded at his desk in Magic School and was completely lost in thought. The last few days had proven to be particularly insightful.

Ever since Wyatt's birth he had felt that such a powerful being shouldn't exist and the seer's prophecy had only added to his worries.

But as much as Gideon could understand the efforts the demons were making to prevent the birth of the foretold child, he was also aware of the disastrous consequences that might occur should they succeed. After all, Chris had come into this time to warn them about Wyatt's turn towards evil, and killing him now even before he was born could affect the course of time in completely unpredictable ways. As an Elder, Gideon was not willing to take that risk.

But concerning the adult Chris, things were indeed very different. He obviously wasn't as powerful yet, as the seer had prophesised, but it was surely just a question of time until his powers would evolve accordingly.

A cold smile appeared on Gideon's face as he remembered that this problem might actually solve itself soon. After all the young man had been critically injured by a darklighter and not even his father had been able to heal him. What a shame.

And should he recover against expectations, Gideon would make sure that the balance of powers was preserved. But he had to be careful, as the sisters and Leo could not find out about his intentions.

x

Leo had been sitting with Chris for a few minutes now and was watching him sleep. At first he had only wanted to quickly check on his condition before he finally left, but then he had moved a chair beside the couch and now he was still here.

Leo laid a hand on the young man's forehead once again to feel his temperature. His skin was burning up.

The Elder took a wet cloth from the water bowl beside the couch and, after wringing it, gently wiped across Chris' forehead to get him some cooling. The cool touch seemed to startle the young man, because he frowned slightly and after a few seconds slowly began to open his eyes.

The fever that was currently fighting the remains of the poison in his body had worn him out completely, making it impossible for Chris to form any coherent thoughts. He didn't comprehend why he couldn't see his surroundings and while he tried to get into a sitting position, he felt around for a lamp to get some light. The whitelighter jumped slightly when somebody took his hand and pushed him gently back onto the couch.

"It's alright, Chris, it's just me, Leo. You've got a high fever, so it'll be better if you just lie down and get some more rest."

The young man had the feeling that his entire head was wrapped in cotton; everything around him sounded strangely muffled and every time he tried to concentrate on something, that thought drifted away from him again immediately. He had almost fallen back to sleep, when he turned his head in the direction of Leo's voice.

"Dad? What are you doing here?"

The Elder was too shocked to answer anything to that question right away. Did Chris really just call him 'Dad'? Completely speechless he just stared into the young man's face for a moment, trying to think of anything to say, until realisation suddenly hit him.

He had just said it himself, Chris was having a high fever, was probably almost delirious. That was the logical explanation, the boy was hallucinating. But out of curiosity, Leo decided to play along for now.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing. Why does that surprise you?"

Although Chris' mind was still drifting, and he was barely aware of what he was saying, his words were still coming out strong.

"You've never been there before. Why would you care now if I'm sick?"

Surprised by this revelation of the young man, Leo frowned thoughtfully. What father would not care about his son's well-being? After all he could talk from experience, as ever since Wyatt's birth his first priority was to make sure his son was alright.

Even though he wasn't responsible for Chris' experiences, the Elder suddenly felt that the young man could use some sympathy.

"Because I'm not indifferent to you, Chris, don't ever think that! Would I be here otherwise?" Leo waited for the young man's answer curiously, and just when he thought he had fallen back asleep, he finally got it. But it was not exactly what he had expected.

"I would have appreciated that concern when Wyatt just wanted to let me die, you know?" While speaking, Chris' voice was becoming less and less audible and he finally became completely quiet at he fell back into a, this time dreamless, sleep.

Leo didn't quite know what to make of that last statement, but while he was still thinking about it, a familiar jingling sound interrupted his thoughts; the other Elders were calling him.

He sighed deeply and ran his hand through Chris' hair briefly before he orbed away at last.

x

Piper was trying to distract herself. She had tried cooking and cleaning, but whatever she did, her thoughts always wandered back to Leo. The Elder had orbed back up there only a few hours ago and she was already missing him terribly.

Things between them had suddenly happened so fast, and before she had even really realised that they were coming back together, he already had to leave again. That just wasn't fair.

As far as Chris was concerned, she was praying for his fast recovery, but being in the attic with him and seeing him lie there unconsciously was more than she could handle right now. They had come so close to losing him and it wasn't even sure yet if he had made it for good.

So, after neither cooking nor cleaning had done much to distract Piper, she had moved on to doing the laundry, which she was still doing when Paige entered the room after a while.

"Here you are, I've been looking all over for you." The younger witch watched her sister for a few moments in surprise until she finally managed to ask.

"What are you doing there?"

"Well, what does it look like? I want to do the laundry, so at first I'm sorting the dirty clothes. The last days have been so stressful that I just didn't get around to doing it."

Although she seemed to be quite content, Paige didn't trust this at all.

"Piper, it's the middle of the night. You're right, the last days have been stressful, so don't you think you should rather get some sleep now?"

"Then what about you? Why aren't you at Richard's?" Paige stared at the ground slightly embarrassed. They had been fighting, because Richard had started to use magic again, but this was definitely not the moment to burden Piper with her problems as well.

"I'm sleeping on the couch for tonight, 'cause I think the Power of Three should stay together for now, with all these demons that have been attacking lately." The youngest of the Charmed Ones looked at her sister, who was just checking the pockets of some pants for forgotten items and waited for the objection that, to her big surprise, never came.

"Yes, I guess you're right. It's too dangerous for us to go our separate ways, especially now that we're on our own."

"'On our own', what do you mean by that?"

"Well, Leo is gone and Chris… who knows how long it'll take for him to recover." More to herself than to her sister, she added silently, "_If_ he even recovers."

The pale witch was slightly taken aback by that.

"And Phoebe had said you were optimistic concerning him. What happened to that attitude?" Piper took out another pair of pants out of the basket next to her, before answering.

"Well, that was before I knew that Leo would…" Paige looked at her expectantly, but her older sister didn't appear to finish that sentence any time soon. Instead she was staring at a rather unremarkable piece of paper she had just pulled out of a pants pocket and unfolded.

"Piper? What's wrong? What is that?" The red-head was starting to get concerned, but then Piper handed her the paper wordlessly and let herself sink on a chair next to her.

Paige immediately recognized the text on the paper as a spell, but it took her a moment to put it into context.

Chris! That had been his trousers, the ones she had brought back from Magic School. And that was the spell he had used to see the future, the spell that was responsible for his blindness and not as it had been in the book, but as Chris had altered it.

Just as speechless as Piper, Paige continued to stare at the note in her hand. Why had Chris lied to them? Why had he told them that he didn't remember the spell exactly anymore when he had written it down? What could possibly have caused him to rather stay blind than just to tell them the truth?

Paige didn't know an answer to that, until the first line of the spell suddenly caught her attention again.

"I call upon the Halliwells." She had read it out loud unconsciously and ripped Piper out of her stupor in the process.

Without paying any mind to her sister, the dark haired witch stormed past her and up the stairs to the attic.

Paige stared after her, confused. What was she planning to do now? When Piper was angry it was never easy to tell what her next move would be, and as she wasn't really sure about her emotional state, Paige orbed upstairs to Chris herself, just to be safe.

x

As Chris woke up this time, he was feeling much better than before. His mind wasn't as hazy anymore, but it still took him a moment to realise what had woken him. Someone had orbed into the room. He could here steps now, then Paige's voice, confirming his suspicion.

"Chris, are you awake?" She was speaking very quietly so not to wake him up if he wasn't, but the person coming up the stairs in this very moment obviously didn't care about that at all. Whoever it was, was moving very fast and was already in the room when Chris answered with a weak

"Yes, I am."

He began to sit up slowly and this time nobody kept him from it. He tried to become more awake by rubbing across his face, but it didn't really have much of an effect.

One of the two people present came closer and Paige finally told him who the other was.

"Piper, what are you doing? Just… don't do anything rash, ok?" The tension in her voice really surprised Chris and he turned in the direction Piper was coming from anxiously. He didn't really know what to expect, but what Piper did next, he definitely hadn't seen coming.

The oldest of the Charmed Ones sat down on the couch next to him and then laid her hands around his face. But most of all he was surprised by the tone of her voice when she finally began to speak, because although it was rather gentle, it made it very clear that the witch would not accept any prevarications.

"I found a note with the spell you used in a pocket of your trousers. You lied to us, because it still invokes the power of the Halliwells. So I'm just going to ask this once and I warn you, better think carefully about your answer. If I think you're lying I'm going to use a truth spell on you, that much I can promise you. Are you part of our family?"

Paige, who was giving her sister free reign on this, held her breath as the seconds passed.

Chris felt as if his throat was constricted, but as Piper was still holding his head, he couldn't just nod, he had to say it out loud.

"Yes." It didn't come out as much more than a whisper, but it had still taken all of the young man's strength to answer. But the witch wasn't about to let him get away this easily.

"Who are you?" Silence followed the question again, but this time Chris didn't seem willing to reply. Several moments passed until Piper repeated the question even more emphatically.

"_Who are you_?"

The young whitelighter's voice nearly broke as he tried desperately to stop this interrogation.

"I _can't_…" But Piper wasn't willing to give up already. Following a sudden inspiration she now posed a question she wouldn't even have contemplated five minutes ago. But somehow she felt that she just had to ask it.

"Are_ you_ my son?" Piper didn't know what kind of reaction she had expected, but she realised in shock that tears had rushed into Chris' eyes at this question and were now running partially down his cheeks. The silence that followed this time appeared to be almost impenetrable, as finally a very solemn "yes" rang out.

To be continued


	9. Family

**Chapter ****9: Family**

Paige wasn't sure if she could believe her own ears. Had Chris really just said that he was Piper's son? Her nephew? Time seemed to stand still for a few seconds and nobody moved until Piper finally broke out of her stupor.

At first she had just stared at the young man incredulously, but now she pulled him into her arms and hugged him as tightly as possible. Surprised by this apparently unexpected reaction, Chris responded to the embrace only slowly while adjusting to the unaccustomed situation.

Without her realising it, tears had started to run down Paige's cheeks as she stood there and watched mother and son. It was as if they were reunited after a very long time and in some way they actually were, at least from Chris' point of view.

He had his face buried in Piper's hair and only the slight trembling of his shoulders gave away that he was still crying. The oldest of the Charmed Ones stroked across his back soothingly and whispered something in his ear to calm him down, but Paige couldn't understand it from her position.

Silently, as to not disturb the two, she left the attic and made her way back downstairs. She briefly thought about waking Phoebe to tell her the news immediately as the empath had already gone to bed, but ultimately decided against it. Though her sister would certainly not be angry to be woken up for something like this, she might want to talk to Chris right away and he and Piper really needed some time alone for now.

Phoebe would probably be sulky for finding out last, but that was a risk Paige was willing to take.

x x x

Minutes had passed when Chris finally broke out of his mother's embrace. Slightly embarrassed, he tried to wipe the tears from his eyes, but that wasn't exactly easy as new ones just kept coming.

He could tell that Piper was staring at him and in this moment he really cursed the fact that he couldn't see. Couldn't look into her eyes to make sure that she was truly happy about her discovery. She had hugged him, yes, but he wanted to see the look on her face to make sure that she had meant it.

Piper must have realised his doubts, because she now gently laid a hand on her son's cheek and spoke as softly as Chris was only used to from his mom in the future.

"What's bothering you? Is something wrong?"

The young man bit his bottom lip nervously. He wasn't sure if this was really the right moment to mention it, but he had been telling enough lies since he had gotten here. It was about time he started telling the truth.

"I'm sorry that I caused you and the others so much grief. What I told you yesterday about Wyatt's brother being dead... I wish I could make it undone, but..."

"It's alright, Chris. Believe me, as sad as I had been, and I've felt as if my heart had been shattered completely, this moment is more than making up for it." She paused for a second before continuing.

"I had thought you were dead..." At these words, Chris let his head fall, feeling guilty, but Piper lifted it again gently.

"No, you don't understand. I mean yesterday after you used that damn spell. When Leo and I arrived at the attic, you were lying on the ground with your eyes open, so pale that I was certain you were dead. It would have killed me to lose you, even before I knew you are." The witch silently wiped a single tear from her face while she was enjoying the closeness between herself and her son.

In the past days so much had happened to him and still, until this moment he hadn't let anyone of them get close to him. That was a trait Piper had noticed immediately about the young man; he always kept his problems to himself and never asked anyone for help.

But if he wanted to accept it or not, this time he had to rely on the help of her and her sisters. Now that they knew the spell Chris had used, it shouldn't be difficult to write a counter spell, but just to be sure she would wait until the morning to use the Power of Three.

I was already late in the night and Piper had noticed that Chris was still having a slightly increased temperature. It was better if he got some more rest; after all he had, once again, barely escaped death. A sure sign that he really was a Halliwell, as Piper thought with a wry smile.

She gave the young man in front of her a kiss on his forehead and wanted to stand up from the couch, but when Chris felt her leaving, he immediately reached out and grabbed her arm to hold her back.

It was as if was having his mother back after eight years and he just didn't want her to go, even if she only wanted to leave the room. Chris knew that he was acting childish, but he simply didn't want to be alone.

Piper saw the helpless expression on her son's face and couldn't help but comply with his silent request.

"It's already late, honey, you should try to get some more sleep. You've been hurt by a darklighter pretty badly and still have a fever." As if to verify this statement, Piper laid a hand on Chris' forehead and nodded slightly as she noticed how warm it was.

The young whitelighter was still holding on to her arm as if to make sure she didn't just suddenly disappear into thin air. In all this time with them he had never appeared as vulnerable as in this moment. Even his voice was unusually soft, almost shy.

"Could you... could you stay for a while?"

"Of course." Piper hadn't hesitated a second and now helped Chris to lie back down on the pillows, noticing how weak he still was. The events of the past minutes had kept the weariness away for a while, but now it was back full force and the young man tried futilely to stay awake any longer.

Piper was sitting next to him on the couch and watched as her son relaxed, his breathing becoming more even and he finally drifted off to sleep. But just as she thought he was sleeping, his voice held her back once more.

"Mum?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Smiling, Piper brushed a few strands of hair out of his face, before bending down and giving him a kiss on the forehead once again.

"I love you, too, honey."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"_Mum! I'm home!"_

"_Hi, peanut! How was school?" Piper Halliwell had just come out of the kitchen and was now hugging her youngest son lovingly._

"_Ok, I guess. Adam, a boy from my class is going to throw a party for his birthday on Saturday. Can I go? Please?" The approximately ten year old boy was looking at his mother expectantly and with gleaming eyes. It was obvious that he was already exited about the party and would be devastated should she not allow him to go._

"_Sure you can, Chris. Did your brother get invited, too?" Piper was already on her way back into the kitchen to prepare her son's meal, so she couldn't see the reluctant expression on his face._

"_No, only the kids from my class got an invitation." After a short pause he added:_

"_Where is Wyatt, anyway? I thought he would be home from school earlier than me today."_

_Piper, who was just putting plates on the kitchen table, froze for a second before answering, and did her best not to look into Chris' eyes._

"_Well, Leo came by earlier. He didn't have a lot of time, and since you weren't here yet, he and Wyatt took off alone." Now she couldn't help herself and looked into Chris' eyes and it made her sad to see the disappointment in them._

"_Don't worry, peanut, I'm sure they're not doing anything special. And the next time your dad comes to visit you'll all do something together. I promise." Piper smiled at Chris, hoping to lift his mood and after a few __moments, his sullen expression changed to a small smile, too. Somehow his mom always managed to cheer him up, no matter what._

"_Now let's eat something, okay? I made your __favourite foot." After hearing that, the boy's smile grew even wider as he sat down at the table._

Startled, Phoebe Halliwell's eyes flew open as she woke up.

"Oh my God!", was everything she managed to whisper into the darkness of her room.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Piper! Paige!" Still in her pyjamas, Phoebe ran down the stairs, screaming for her sisters. She just had to tell them immediately what she had just dreamt.

"We're in the kitchen", came Piper's response right away and within seconds the empath was standing in front of the two witches, gesticulating wildly while trying to put the cause for her excitement into words.

"I've got to tell you something! Well, I'm not even sure if I'm _allowed_ to tell you this, but I simply _can not_ keep it to myself!" She made a dramatic pause to amplify the significance of her news, but received only confused looks from her sisters, so she continued with a sigh.

"Well, it's about Chris, he..."

"Is he alright? His condition didn't get worse again, did it?" Piper cut her off worriedly. Now it was Phoebe's turn to give her sister a confused look, but she continued with a shake of her head.

"No, he's fine. At least I think he is, 'cause I haven't seen him yet this morning." She took a deep breath as if to prepare herself for giving Piper the shocking news.

"Well, what I actually wanted to say, is that I've been dreaming, or rather having a vision in my sleep I guess, and it was about Chris. He... how am I going to say this best? Well, he is..."

A smile crept on Piper's face as she realised what her sister was going to say. She tried to sound as calm as possible when she finished her sentence.

"My son?"

As if she had been turned to stone, Phoebe stared at Piper, her mouth still open, too surprised to reply anything until her lips finally formed a silent 'Oh'.

"So you already know." And after a second's hesitation she continued, clearly disappointed. "But why do you know this already? How?"

Now even Paige couldn't keep herself from laughing as she gave a cup of coffee to the empath, who was still shocked that her surprise wasn't one anymore, and led her over to sit down at the kitchen table. Then she and Piper proceeded to tell their sister everything that had transpired last night and how they had uncovered Chris' best kept secret.

x x x

"He must have been really afraid to tell us." Phoebe said slowly, while she was staring across the rim of her cup, deep in thought.

"What do you mean?" Piper looked at her sister questioningly, causing her to lower her cup of coffee, a sympathetic look on her face.

"Well, he would have rather stayed blind than tell us who he really is. That's saying enough, don't you think?" Piper just nodded silently and for a few minutes it stayed quiet in the room while each of the three sisters followed their own thoughts. Finally it was Paige who broke the silence.

"When are you going to tell Leo?" The oldest of the sisters looked over at her younger sibling in shock. She hadn't even thought about that yet.

"Probably not very soon. He's up there with the other Elders in safety and I'd rather it stayed that way. It was hard enough for him to leave one son behind, I don't want him to have to worry about Chris, too." That was all Piper wanted to say on that topic, but Phoebe wouldn't let it go so easily.

"Well, you've got to tell him at some point. After all, now that you're not together anymore, Chris could get a little problem if you and Leo don't…" The empath raised her hands slightly, not quite sure how to say it tactfully. "…well, you know…"

Paige on the other hand preferred to call the problem by its name.

"If you don't hook up again to conceive him."

Piper's face had taken a on a slight shade of red when she suddenly seemed to remember something and slowly laid a hand on her stomach. Clearly embarrassed but also surprised, she looked at her sisters in turn.

"Well, um maybe I, or rather we already took care of that." For a few seconds Paige and Phoebe just stared at her sister until they realised what she was saying.

"Oooh", was the only thing Paige could come up with at the moment, while Phoebe clasped her hands before her mouth in shock.

"You mean you're… pregnant?"

"I don't know. Maybe. Could be possible." Indecisively, Piper kept looking from her stomach to her sisters and finally up into the direction of the attic. She had been pretty overwhelmed by the news that Chris was her son and had only started to get used to it, but to think that she might already be pregnant with him was definitely not making it any easier for her. If she even was pregnant at all.

A suggestion from Paige pulled her back out of her thoughts.

"Maybe you should tell Chris. Then he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore." Piper looked at her youngest sister in disbelief. She simply couldn't be serious about this.

"Are you crazy? I'm not going to tell my son what his father and I did last night. That would just be completely… gross." The witch exclaimed strongly, making a defensive gesture, as if she was pushing the mere thought away.

"Okay, okay, I got it. It was just a suggestion."

"When I'm sure I'm pregnant I will tell him, but not earlier. It's just as probable that nothing happened and I don't want to even mention this until I know for sure." Piper paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and decided to concentrate again on the most important issue right now. Chris was still blind.

"I think we should forget this for now and focus again on the problem at hand. Now that we know the exact spell Chris used, we can easily cast a counter spell. I wrote it already, but I wanted to use the Power of Three to make sure it works. But I guess it's about time now, so can we please go upstairs and cure my son?"

Piper got up determinedly and left the kitchen to go to the attic, her sisters following close behind.

After everything that had happened last night she hadn't been able to find any sleep and had worked on the spell for a small eternity. It had to be perfect, after all she didn't want any unpleasant surprises to come up, but in the end she was quite pleased with the result. Everything should work out as planned.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The sound of footsteps and the smell of candles woke Chris from his dreamless sleep. He needed a few seconds to orient himself, until the events of the last night came back to him. His secret was uncovered and Piper finally knew who he was. But most importantly she had been happy about her discovery.

The young whitelighter smiled inadvertently as he thought back to the embrace and the witch telling him that she loved him.

But the smile turned into a confused frown as he became fully aware of the noises around him. He sat up carefully and asked with a still sleepy sounding voice:

"What's going on?"

The Charmed Ones were busy setting up a large circle of candles as they heard the voice of their whitelighter. Piper immediately went over to him to explain what they were doing and to help him to stand up. After all, his presence in the circle was required.

"Good morning, Peanut." Piper crouched down in front of the couch to hug her son.

"Your aunts and I are going to cast a spell that's going to restore your vision. We've already put up the candles; you're the only one who's still missing." She finished with a smile on her face.

She laid a hand on Chris' back to help him to stand up, but the young man was set on not appearing completely helpless.

"Thanks, but I can do this." Interpreting his words right, Piper pulled her hand back and only tentatively took her son's arm to guide him over to the circle after he had stood up.

When Chris was surrounded by the candles, Paige lit the last of them and then the three witched went to stand outside the circle in equal intervals to each other. Piper was standing directly in front of their whitelighter and looked at his face with worry one last time before she started to recite the spell, her sisters following her example.

"Spirits of the Halliwell line

You've unveiled what lies ahead in time

Your ancient powers we summon here

To make the darkness disappear

The veil of time shall now be closed

The present has to be exposed"

As soon as the witches started the spell, Chris could feel the magic working. His eyes were tingling almost unbearably and Piper could see that they were glowing slightly.

All of a sudden, the young whitelighter was starting to feel extremely dizzy and he could only hope that this was nothing more than a temporary side effect of the spell and nothing to worry about, but he was having trouble keeping his balance anyway. Ultimately he had to sink to his knees to not step outside the circle accidentally.

His mother was watching him almost worried sick, and wanted nothing more than to rush to Chris' side, but first she had to finish the spell. But after she had spoken the last words, nothing could hold her back and she was kneeling in front of Chris in an instant, trying to see his face.

"Chris, are you alright? Please say something."

The concern in her voice finally caused the young man to lift his head. He had tears in his eyes, but he was smiling and returned the gaze of his mother steadily.

Laughing, he lifted one hand and reached for Piper's cheek as if he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life than her.

"Hi, mom."

To be continued


	10. As you wish!

**Chapter 10: As you wish!**

Chris had to smile inadvertently as his eyes wandered over the table in front of him repeatedly.

After the spell had been broken and he could see again, Piper had tried to make him get some more rest, but since he had been feeling better, nothing could've kept the young man from leaving the attic as fast as he could.

The oldest of the Charmed Ones had realised she wouldn't be able to change his mind and had instead settled on making her son a decent breakfast. Chris had had to tell her his favourite foot and so a giant pile of pancakes was now towering in the middle of the table.

Paige and Phoebe, who were sitting next to the young man, and Piper opposite from him looked at him expectantly while Chris scrutinised the food on the table. When he noticed the stares he looked back at them in confusion for a moment, before realising how much they were all trying to make sure he was enjoying himself.

The young man wanted to reassure them and so he smiled as engagingly as possible as he reached for the first of many pancakes he was about to eat this morning.

"This breakfast looks great, mum, thanks."

Piper returned his smile gladly. She wanted Chris to consider the Halliwell manor his home, even in this time, but she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to meet his expectation of her as his mother.

She was not the person he knew from the future and when she thought back to the first months he had spent with them in this time, she realised all too clearly that Chris had had to learn that the hard way already.

Back when Leo had given her and her sisters the powers of goddesses, the young man from the future had been the first to get a taste of her new strength and Piper was still incredibly grateful that she at least hadn't hurt him badly.

She hadn't trusted him at the time and if the last few weeks hadn't been, she probably still wouldn't. Piper felt sick as she remembered that she had even thrown him out of the house once...

x

Phoebe was smiling silently while she was enjoying her breakfast. Every now and then she threw a glance at mother and son, who were both also eating in silence, to try and see how they were taking the situation.

But although nobody at the table was talking, it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. The atmosphere was rather filled with some kind of joyful tension, as if none of them could yet comprehend the recent positive developments.

As the empath looked once again in Piper's direction, she also spotted the clock on the wall behind her sister and her hand with the fork froze just an inch away from her mouth. _Damn it, Elise is going to kill me._

Surprised, Paige looked up from her plate as Phoebe suddenly dropped her fork with a small cry and jumped up from her chair.

"Oh no, I'm so late already!" she screamed and rushed out of the dining room and upstairs to get dressed for work. After about three minutes she came back down the stairs, all the while muttering how angry Elise would be after specifically asking her to be on time today.

Sighing, Paige got up from her chair as well and went to catch her sister before she went out of the front door.

"Hey, Phoebe, do you want me to get you there? I don't have any plans for today and", her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, "I don't really want to be in the way of any mother-son talks."

Phoebe looked at her younger sister in surprise for a moment, then broke out in a huge smile and hugged her forcefully.

"Paige, you're the best!" She put her car keys back on a table and instead took the hand of her sister, who orbed the both of them into the empty corridor outside the Daily Mirror office within seconds.

As soon as Phoebe opened the glass door to go inside, she was greeted loudly by a quite furious Elise.

"Phoebe, where have you been? I had asked you to be on time for once. Your desk is already close to a collapse from all your mail."

"I am really terribly sorry, but my nephew..." The angry expression of her boss vanished immediately and was replaced by a look of genuine concern.

"Is something wrong with Wyatt? I hope he's alright?"

"No, no, Wyatt is fine. This was about Chris actually."

Elise looked back at her columnist in confusion.

"Chris? Do you have another nephew?" Phoebe stopped with her mouth still open. She had said way too much already.

"Eh, no. But maybe some day I will. Who knows? You know what I mean." With that Phoebe left a completely confused Elise behind and went into her office, Paige right behind her.

x x x

After she had read the last lines of the letter in her hand, Phoebe had to stretch extensively. She and Paige had been going through the dozen's, if not hundreds of reader's letters piled on her desk for quite a while now, but so far she had found none that she wanted to use for her column.

A few had been not bad, but the empath wanted a letter that would grip her instantly and not let her go until she had answered it.

Paige obviously hadn't been successful either, as she put the sheet of paper from her hand down and sighed, before taking a large sip from her coffee.

"Who'd have thought that so many people would turn to a newspaper columnist for help with their love lives?"

Bored, her eyes wandered across the countless still unopened envelops in front of her until she finally reached for the one closest to her. But instead of opening it herself, Paige held it in front of her sister's face.

"I just don't feel like it right now. You can take this one."

Phoebe took the letter, but the instant her fingers touched the paper, she flinched and the images of a vision rushed through her mind.

_A young, very desperate woman with dark hair was standing in a cave and was being attack by a demon with __small rays of fire. She screamed in fear._

"_No no no, don't, please!" But the demon didn't show an__d pity and continued to attack._

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Are you sure that this is the right place? Maybe your scrying was off?" Paige looked at her sister doubtfully. She had orbed the two of them somewhere into the middle east, right in the middle of a desert, and even though the cave they were in looked exactly as Phoebe had described it, the young witch wasn't so sure that this was where they were meant to be.

"I mean, why would anybody who lives out here in the desert write to 'Ask Phoebe'? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, obviously I'm world-famous." Phoebe replied with a grin, but then added, "Look at this place, maybe she's an archaeologist from the states, or something," slightly more seriously.

She continued to look around the cave curiously. There were several shelves constructed at the walls, just like she had seen it in her vision, but there was no trace of either the young woman or the demon that had attacked her.

The two witches were standing in front of one of the shelves, studying its content when Paige suddenly heard a noise behind them. She turned around to face the entrance immediately, but stopped in her movement when she saw something she really hadn't expected to see.

A man on a flying carpet had just flown into the cave and was about to attack the Halliwells, but Paige thought quickly enough to orb herself and her sister out of harm's way, a few meters away.

The red-headed witch reached out and shouted "Shelf!", causing said item to crash directly onto the flying carpet.

The demon only barely managed to stay on it, but the pink bottle he had been holding fell from his grasp and landed in the sand, completely intact. He tried to reach it, but in that moment Phoebe threw a potion at the demon, and he obviously realised that he didn't stand a chance against the two witches and decided to retreat.

Glad that they had been able to ward off the attack, Phoebe sighed in relief, but then noticed the bottle the demon had dropped and went to pick it up.

She scrutinised the flask for a moment, but as she noticed the dirt on it, the empath rubbed over the colourful surface a few times to clean it. She almost dropped the bottle in shock as pink smoke suddenly emerged from the opening.

Two seconds later the woman from her vision was standing in front of her, but instead of normal clothing, she was wearing an oriental dress – in pink – and looked at Phoebe in gratitude.

"Thank you for rescuing me. I'm at your service, master!"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Piper Halliwell was not enthusiastic about the situation. Not at all.

She was watching Jinny the genie as she was trying to persuade Phoebe to release her, but without much success.

After all, just as her older sister, the empath knew from first-hand experience how dangerous it was to make a wish to a genie.

"But only if you set me free, you can prevent Bosk from taking possession of my bottle again. I beg you, master, do it, it will solve your problems as well as mine." She looked at Phoebe pleadingly, but the witch only shook her head decisively.

"No, sorry, but no wishes. I know all about genies, you're tricksters." With that the topic was done for the witch, but Jinny wasn't about to give up that easily. Nothing was more important to her than her freedom.  
"Well, if you won't set me free, at least wish for Bosk to be destroyed. Otherwise he will come here sooner or later and once he is holding my bottle again, he will force me to fulfil his third wish."

"And that would be?" Everyone in the room looked at Jinny expectantly. Whatever the demon wanted to wish for, if it was scaring the genie this much, it definitely wasn't anything good.

Jinny's voice dropped to a whisper as she answered Phoebe's question.

"Zanbar."

"Zanbar?"

"What's Zanbar?"

"The lost city. Before being swallowed up by the desert, it was the seed of power for an evil empire."

Piper looked at pink-clad woman in surprise. What could a demon possibly want with a deserted city?

"But what does Bosk want with it? It's just a city."

"A city of magic!" Jinny replied urgently. "Bosk has been using his thieves to search for its former site and if he finds it and wishes it back there will be no stopping him. That is why you must wish me free, master."

The genie had turned to Phoebe again imploringly, but before the empath could answer her, Piper cut in forcefully.

"No way! We will deal with Bosk, but we'll do it our way. And I'd really prefer it if Jinny here goes back into her bottle until then." To the genie she added: "No offence, I just want to make sure nobody makes any wishes by accident. We've been burned before."

Phoebe nodded in agreement and held the pink bottle up for Jinny who was looking anything but pleased.

"Do you mind?"

"Yes, master." She crossed her arms and vanished back into the bottle in a whirl of smoke.

x x x

"So, what's the book saying about this Bosk?" Piper looked expectantly at her son and Paige who were standing in front of the Book of Shadows and searched for the demon that had attack the sisters earlier.

"He's a low-level demon with minimal powers. There's even a vanquishing potion." Chris, who was also looking on the page, gave his mother a reassuring smile.

"It shouldn't take long. Once Phoebe finishes the potion we'll summon him and that's it. Problem solved." He glanced over to the empath mixing said potion right now.

Piper was about to reply something, but was abruptly cut short when a flying carpet with a demon on it crashed through the large window behind the Book of Shadows. It knocked both Paige and Chris to the ground and they stayed there, dazed.

Piper recovered from the shock pretty quickly and instinctively tried to make Bosk explode, but her attack was magically blocked by the big silver medallion he wore around his neck. The demon just laughed maliciously and in turn tried to kill the witch, but she was able to duck behind a couch just in time.

Piper looked over at Phoebe, who had taken cover, too, and now stared at the pink bottle standing on the small table beside her. The oldest of the sisters knew that the empath was about to wish for something and wanted to stop her, but to no avail. Just as Piper was about to shout "Don't do it" to her, she could hear Phoebe's voice.

"Jinny, I wish you free."

Pink smoke masked her view, but when Piper could see again, she stared in shock at the young woman who had appeared now in the middle or the room, completely dressed in black. It was undoubtedly Jinny, but except from her looks, she didn't seem to have much in common with the exuberant genie from before. Her voice was icy when she turned to Bosk.

"Well it's about time. Who's the master now?" With that she threw a fireball at the demon, who instantly erupted in flames and perished within seconds, screaming.

Piper knew that Jinny, who was obviously a demon herself, would go for the bottle next, but the witch was faster. She immediately jumped to her feet and reached for the bottle, but as she wanted to try and vanquish the demon, she was too late.

As Jinny realised that her former home was lost to her for now, she threw a dark look at Piper and then jumped on the flying carpet still hovering at the window and was gone.

Piper looked after her for a moment, but then directed her attention instead to her son and Paige who were getting up from the floor now, still slightly dishevelled.

Chris returned his mother's look, glad that she was unharmed, but then a confused expression appeared on his face. His eyes wandered across the attic several times until he focused on Piper again.

"Where is Phoebe?"

Now the two present witches also noticed the absence of her sister. They looked around questioningly, until their gaze ended on the bottle in Piper's hand from which now Phoebe's voice could be heard, muffled.

"I'm in here! Hello?"

Piper lowered her head to get a look through the opening of the bottle and was greeted by a miniature Phoebe inside.

"What the hell are you doing in there? Why don't you come out?"

"I can't. I don't know how. Try commanding me."

"Alright. Damn it, get out of there already!"

Immediately smoke, this time in light blue, began to rush out of the bottle. When her sister was back to her usual size, Piper stared at her dumbfounded for a moment, before she started to laugh.

"You look ridiculous." Phoebe returned her sister's look huffily.

"Hey! That's not funny, okay?" Behind her, laughter erupted now, too, and when the brand new genie turned around, Chris and Paige were standing there, both trying futilely to make a straight face.

"I'm sorry, Phoebe, but mom is right. You _do_ look ridiculous." Irritated, Phoebe turned away from all of them and went over to the large mirror in the corner of the attic. There she could admire her new outfit in all its glory for the first time and she silently had to agree with her family.

She really did look silly in the light blue oriental dress with the perfectly matching blond braid fastened on top of her head. As if she was on her way to a costume party. But still, they didn't have to laugh at her, after all she wasn't looking like this voluntarily.

"Alright, alright, I got it. But could you all please stop laughing now and instead help me to fix this?"

Paige was the first who pulled herself together as much as possible and now looked at her sister as seriously as she could.

"We'd really love to, Phoebe, but… don't you have to help Major Nelson first?"

After that line, neither Piper nor Chris could control themselves anymore and they burst out laughing again. Paige even had to hold onto a nearby chair to stay upright, tears in her eyes. Only Phoebe was not really in the mood for any of this.

"Funny. _Really_ funny."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Ah, there's our newest addition to the family." Phoebe was downright beaming as she walked into the living room and sat down on the couch next to Chris.

He had actually fled here to get some relief from the bustling in the kitchen, but apparently Piper had become so annoyed with her little sister that she had thrown her out, too. And although Chris really liked his aunt a lot, he wished his mom had sent her into her bottle instead. Phoebe could be nerv-racking enough just being herself, but now as a genie her exuberant behaviour had apparently gotten even worse.

"Hey, Aunt Phoebe."

"Aww, that's so sweet when you say that. You know, I never would have expected you to be my nephew. I mean, of course I liked you already before I found out, and I'm actually asking myself now how I didn't see the resemblance between you, Piper and Leo, but I only realised it when I had this dream last night. Then Piper and Paige confirmed it and…" Phoebe was cut off in her rushed speech when Chris looked at her in surprise.

"Dream? What dream?"

"Well, I think it was more of a vision actually. I saw you as a child. You were about ten or eleven years old and just came home from school and told Piper about some birthday party you wanted to go to." The genie gave Chris a fake reproachful look and lowered her voice. "And you were glad that Wyatt wasn't invited."

The whitelighter tried to remember that day, but he couldn't and so he could only hope that Phoebe hadn't seen anything she wasn't supposed to know about his time.

The genie continued meanwhile, without noticing the hurtful expression on Chris' face at her next words.

"But then again he was so mean to leave on a trip with Leo without even waiting for you. If your dad had known that it wouldn't have taken long until you came home, he surely would have made sure to take you with on their trip. It must have been hard growing up with an elder as a father who couldn't even find time for his children."

Chris avoided to look into Phoebe's eyes as he answered her.

"Oh, but he found enough. Well, at least in part." Just as expected, Phoebe completely misinterpreted the meaning of his words and now patted his shoulder encouragingly.

"You know, it doesn't really matter how much time you spent with somebody, but _how_ you spent it, right?" Chris only nodded silently and got up from the couch, but before he left the room, he turned to his aunt once again.

"But one thing you got wrong about this dream. If I was glad that Wyatt wasn't invited to one of my friends' birthday party, then it wasn't because I wanted to tease him or anything. Nearly all of the kids at my school found him scary and were afraid of him, that's why nobody ever visited me at home. I always told mum that I wouldn't invite anyone because I was afraid a demon would attack, but it was really because of Wyatt."

The young man hesitated a second before continuing.

"She never suspected anything. Nobody did." With these words Chris left the room and the genie could hear how he walked up the stairs.

x

Phoebe looked after her nephew with a sad expression until she finally realised that Piper was standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. She had tears in her eyes and was obviously completely shaken by what she had just heard from her son.

After a few seconds she came further into the room and now, too, looked to the spot where Chris had just left. The witch had her back turned to her sister as she started to speak with a constricted voice.

"How could I have been such an awful mother? How could I let Wyatt become evil and then not even notice it? He must have terrorised his brother for years and even now those memories are still hurting him."

She took a short deep breath before she added,

"I just wish he could let go of that pain and just be happy for once." The moment Piper had said the words, she slapped her hand across her mouth in shock and spun around to her sister.

"No, Phoebe, don't!" But it was already too late. Genie-Phoebe had laid her hands together and then nodded her head once while a noise could be heard that made it all too clear that a wish had just been granted.

"I'm sorry, but your wish is my command."

With panic in her eyes, Piper stared up at the ceiling, where her son had gone just moments ago. What had she done?

To be continued


	11. Unimagined Consequences

**Chapter 1****1: Unimagined Consequences**

Piper's mind was racing as she hurried upstairs. What had she done? She knew well enough that one had to pick one's words carefully when a genie was nearby and yet she had just uttered a wish by mistake.

She could only hope that Chris didn't have to pay for her stupidity now, although she knew that the chances for that were pretty slim. Phoebe had granted her wish and now there was only the question how bad the consequences would turn out to be.

As soon as she had reached the first story, Piper stopped abruptly, causing Phoebe, who had followed her, to almost run into her. Where had Chris gone? Was he in the attic, maybe looking at something in the Book of Shadows?

The witch was just about to call for the young whitelighter, when she suddenly heard noises coming out of Wyatt's room. She realised that her two sons had to be in there, but now that she had certainty about Chris' whereabouts, her steps suddenly became very hesitant.

What would she find in that room? Was Chris still himself? To this day Piper could vividly remember the weeks after Leo had taken the pain from their break-up from her and she had been cheerfulness incarnate. Had she done that to her son now as well?

When she finally arrived right outside Wyatt's bedroom, Phoebe still in tow, Piper ultimately couldn't bring herself to open the door. Though her hand was getting closer to the doorknob, it became increasingly slower and in the end halted completely. She just couldn't do it.

She stayed like this for a few seconds, until there was an impatient noise behind her and Phoebe pushed her sister to the side to reach for the doorknob herself.

"I'll just do it then." With these words she pushed the door open so they could finally see the inside of the room.

x

When Phoebe could finally see what was happening in the room in front of her, she released the breath she hadn't even realised she was holding. She didn't know what she had expected to find in here, but at first glance everything seemed to be normal.

Chris was sitting on a chair, Wyatt on his lap, and looked up smiling when he noticed the two sisters entering. But Phoebe was still slightly worried when she finally spoke hesitantly.

"Is everything alright with you?", she asked, earning herself a very confused look from the young whitelighter.

"I only went up here like twenty seconds ago, Phoebe. Why would anything not be alright?" And to the so far silent older witch he added: "Piper, did anything happen that I should know about? Or is it just Phoebe's new outfit that's making her act this weird?"

Without answering, Piper continued staring at her son quietly, trying to figure out if he was changed or not. He was in a good mood, that much was obvious, but apart from that he seemed to be just the same as before.

Could it actually be that her wish had for once not backfired? That Chris had simply come to terms with his awful past and would be happier in the future? That sounded almost too good to be true.

"Piper? Piper! Do you hear me?" Because the witch had still not answered him, but was continuously staring at him, Chris was starting to get worried, and moved his hand a few times through the air to get her attention back, as she was obviously far away with her thoughts.

"What? Oh, yes, I'm sorry. I've just been deep in thought, but it's nothing." She threw a last long look at Chris, who was still sitting with a peaceful Wyatt on his lap, before she turned half around to her sister.

"Pheeps, I think everything here is fine, we should…" But Phoebe never found out what exactly they should do, because a thought suddenly came to Piper that made her turn back around instantly.

Without her being able to pinpoint it, something about the whole situation had irritated her and now she finally knew what it was. Wyatt had never been this quiet around Chris. It was as if he was able to feel the young man's unrest and so was always rather fractious when Chris was carrying him.

But now Wyatt was completely serene and peaceful, worrying Piper more than anything else. And there was also something else. Something Chris had said, or rather what he had _not_ said.

"Wait, what did you just call me?" If Chris had been slightly startled by the behaviour of the two witches up until now, he was now completely confused. What should he have called her?

"'Piper', of course." And with a crooked smile he added, "That_ is_ your name after all, isn't it?" This had to be some kind of joke, although the whitelighter could really not find anything funny about all this. Had somebody messed with Piper's memories again? It wouldn't have been the first time.

But before the dark haired witch could reply, she was cut short by her sister, who had pushed herself further into the room and was now glaring at Chris accusingly.

"And what happened to '… ow!" The last part of her sentence had been directed at Piper, who had effectively silenced the genie with a well aimed and quite hard nudge with her elbow.

"Hey, what did you do that for?" Sulking, the blonde rubbed her sore ribs, but she didn't receive any sympathy from her sister's side. Instead, Piper grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back out into the corridor.

"Please excuse us for a moment." Was everything she had to say to Chris, before she closed the door to Wyatt's room to prevent him from overhearing anything of what she wanted to discuss with her sister now.

x

"He doesn't know who I am." That was the only statement Piper made, but Phoebe couldn't really follow her sister's logic in this case, causing her to cast her a perplexed look.

"What are you talking about? Of course Chris knows who you are, he just called you 'Piper', after all, didn't he? And I did not get the impression that he didn't know who you or we are."

"No, you don't understand. He knows my name, knows that I'm a witch and so on, but he doesn't know that I'm his mother." She ran a hand across her face, still uncertain, before she continued. "Well, either that or he forgot that we know about his identity, but somehow I don't believe that."

"But… why? I don't understand. You wish for him to be happy and he forgets that you're his mother? That just doesn't make any sense." Phoebe pointed out.

As she didn't know any answer to that question, either, Piper just shrugged wearily.

"I can't explain it either, Phoebe. You're the one who granted the wish. So, if anyone knows what that did to Chris, it has to be you."

The genie seemed to ponder the question for a long moment before answering hesitantly.

"I… well… I'm not entirely sure, but I think that I erased all his pain, and the causes for it, from his memories."

It took Piper a while to reply anything to that as she tried to fight off the tears that were rushing to her eyes.

When she finally spoke her voice was trembling and sounded strangely constricted.

"And the fact that he is part of this family is apparently one of the things that caused him so much pain."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Still slightly baffled, Chris stared at the closed door, where only seconds ago two of the Charmed Ones had stood. Though strange behaviour of the residents was nothing unusual in this house, and the fact that Phoebe was currently a genie only proved that, Piper's behaviour had irritated him in a way he couldn't explain.

He had just called her 'Piper', what could have possibly been wrong with that? And on top of that was Phoebe's obvious concern when the two had entered the room. Something was going on here that he didn't know about yet, but Chris wouldn't have come this far if he had ever tended to give up easily.

At this thought he looked down at the small boy he was still holding and smiled unconsciously. How strange it was that the man, who was his worst enemy in the future, seemed to trust him this unconditionally here as a toddler.

How easy it would have been to simply kill Wyatt and eradicate the threat he posed to the entire world once and for all. But although Chris had killed many times in his life, and to his dismay not always exclusively demons, he was not a ruthless killer.

To kill an, at this point, completely innocent child was not in his nature and he would only do it if there was no other option left. Then he would also have to fight against the Halliwells, but would probably be able to catch them off guard as they were trusting him now.

But his situation was not that desperate yet, and the young man fervently hoped that it would never come to that. In the last few months that he had spent as their whitelighter, the sisters had grown on him quite a lot and he didn't want to hurt them under any circumstances or see them suffering.

And that included freeing them from any spells they might be under, which brought him back to his initial question of what was wrong with the witches.

He put Wyatt back in his bed and stood up to go after Piper and Phoebe. Then it suddenly occurred to him that, given the current situation, probably no spell had caused their weird behaviour, but rather a careless wish.

Piper must have wished for something by accident that had in some way messed with her and Phoebe's heads, and therefore probably Paige's, too. If she couldn't even recall her own name…

Well, either that, or…

Chris suddenly froze halfway to the door, as he thought of something pretty unsettling. What if not the sisters had been affected by the wish, but… him?

The two witches had come up here, because they had been worried about _him_. Something about_ his_ behaviour had irritated Piper, and caused her to leave the room to discuss something with Phoebe in private.

Something wasn't right with him, something was off, but what?

The young man thought hard, racked his brain, but of course that was completely pointless. Whatever had been… changed about him, he wouldn't be able to remember it. So all he could do was ask someone else about it.

With two steps he crossed the rest of the way to the door and opened it forcefully, about to rush outside, but stopped abruptly when he realised that Piper and Phoebe were still standing right in front of the doorway.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The genie and her current master were still standing in the corridor, both visibly moved by their discovery. Ever since they had become witches they had had to learn first-hand that it wasn't always easy to be a Halliwell, but at the same time it had always been their family that had supported them during these hard times.

Piper herself had wished more than once to live a life without magic, but to turn her back on her sisters, her family? That would never have been an option for her.

_But Chris' life is different than mine._ This thought burnt itself in Piper's mind and stabbed into her heart as she kept staring at the door beside her as if she could sense her son through the solid wood and get at least a vague idea of what he had been through in his world.

She herself had Phoebe and Paige at her side and in the past with Prue a big sister to whom she had always been able to look up to, but Chris didn't have this connection between siblings. The one who should have protected him had betrayed him, had betrayed them all and had become the biggest possible threat himself.

Wyatt had trampled on everything the name Halliwell stood for and only now Piper slowly began to realise how much his brother must have suffered from him.

So much actually, that his pain had almost eaten him up from inside. Despite his time here and the distance he had brought between himself and Wyatt, Piper had always felt some kind of dark shadow around the young man.

In the beginning, before she had known who he really was, she hadn't been able to explain her feeling and had been afraid that Chris might be dangerous, but now the witch knew better.

It was all the pain, the suffering, the guilt and the responsibility the young man was constantly carrying around with him, always trying to conceal it, because there was no one in this time that he could confide in.

Piper had blamed herself quite a lot for not preventing her own son from becoming a tyrant in Chris' future, but she didn't even know what exactly happened. After all, it hadn't happened for her, yet.

Contrary to Chris. The young whitelighter had seen it with his own eyes, had witnessed his brother turning evil without being able to stop him. And according to his own words, the rest of his family hadn't even noticed anything, before it had been too late.

Piper took a deep breath to calm herself and organize her thoughts. Only a few moments ago she had been angry and hurt – angry at herself and Phoebe that she had been so careless to make the wish and that her sister had fulfilled it and hurt that Chris didn't recognize her as his mother, didn't see himself as part of their family anymore.

But even though these feeling were still there, there was also something else now, something that was growing stronger and was changing the way she was looking at everything.

Compassion. Understanding.

What, if it was better this way? If forgetting was really the only way for Chris to ever be at peace?

He could still remember a lot of things, their names, where he was, what was happening in the house at the moment, so he would probably also still know that he was here to protect Wyatt. Did it even matter then whether he knew the true reason for being here?

If it was less painful for Chris to protect a stranger from evil than his own brother, then Piper would accept that. And even more importantly, she would make sure that everyone else would accept it, too.

All sadness and doubts vanished from her expression and made way for a resolution she always had when the well-being of her family was concerned. Even if in this case it meant not to count Chris as a member of her family anymore.

x

Phoebe was watching Piper uncertainly. Thanks to the potion Chris had gotten for them months ago, she couldn't read her sisters' emotion anymore, although she doubted that it would even work now as a genie, and yet she had never wanted to be able to use her empathic powers more than right now.

She could see how hard the situation was for Piper, but what mother would ever take it lightly if her own son didn't remember her anymore? But there was something going on inside of her, maybe the witch was already planning her next steps.

Phoebe was hoping that her sister was already working out her next wish to undo Chris' memory loss, and was just making sure to get the words right to not make matters even worse accidentally.

The genie wanted to say something, something to ease Piper's grief and to stop her from blaming herself for Chris' terrible past, but for once she couldn't think of anything to say.

And truth be told, Phoebe also knew too little about what happened in the future to completely eliminate the possibility that Piper, or maybe even herself and Paige had in some way contributed to Wyatt turning away from them and becoming a menace to the entire world.

According to Chris his brother had tended to cruelty even when he was young, but all of them had been too blind, too impressed by the obvious power of the twice-blessed child to realize it.

"We're not going to tell him." Piper's determined voice pulled Phoebe out of her own thoughts.

"What?" Startled, she stared at her sister, certain that she couldn't possibly have meant what it had sounded like. There was no way that Piper could even be considering not to undo the wish and to leave Chris in the dark about his true identity.

Piper wiped the remaining tears from her eyes resolutely before continuing.

"If the memory of his family is that painful for Chris, I think we shouldn't restore it. He's already been through so much, Phoebe, and it's still burdening him. He's got the right for a second chance, a little peace of soul, and I'm not going to destroy that chance by reminding him that Wyatt is his own brother. If it's easier for Chris this way, so be it."

She raised her hands in a defensive manner, signalling that the matter was done for her, but the genie was not ready to give up this easily.

"But Piper, you're talking about us here, about you. He can't just forget his family, even his own mother and then simply continue living with us as if nothing happened." Piper sighed, slightly irritated by Phoebe's opposition, before replying.

"Oh yes, he can. You're the one who made sure of that."

The genie didn't know what to answer to that, but she didn't even get the opportunity to say anything, as the door to Wyatt's room was suddenly ripped open and Chris stood in front of them.

He obviously hadn't expected to still find them here, and was now staring at the two women no less surprised than they were looking at him.

Phoebe opened her mouth to say something, anything to ruin Piper's crazy idea, but she never got the chance.

"Pheeps, go back downstairs into the bottle. Right now!"

"What? Oh, you can forget about… Yes, Master!" Against her will, the genie interrupted herself mid-sentence and shot her sister an angry glare, before she crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned into a whirl of blue smoke that immediately vanished down the stairs in the direction of her bottle.

Contrary to Phoebe, Chris obviously didn't have a problem with Piper misusing her control over her sister and so he gave her an appreciative grin.

"That was cool."

For one moment the two just stood there in silence, until Chris' expression suddenly darkened again. Worried, he scrutinized the considerably smaller witch in front of him.

"Is everything alright, Piper? You seem… upset and you and Phoebe have been acting a little weird. Did anything happen, like for example… a careless wish or something?"

Piper could feel the young man's concern clearly and ran a hand through her hair shakily, trying her best to hide her nervousness. Chris had put together what had happened much faster than she had imagined, but then again he still was a Halliwell, if he knew it or not. Now she just had to come up with a plausible explanation, before he became any more suspicious.

"No, no, don't worry. Phoebe just had this feeling that something might be wrong, but I think her empathic powers are just going haywire, now that she's a genie. You're alright, aren't you?" Piper waited until Chris nodded in reply before she continued. "Well, then everything is fine, isn't it? You have no reason to be worried."

With these words she turned away from the young whitelighter and went back downstairs, while thinking desperately about the best way to convince her sisters of her idea. Phoebe had obviously been anything but thrilled, but hopefully she would chance her mind eventually.

After all, Piper was only doing this for Chris. Although the young man, who was currently watching her walk down the stairs warily, not really buying her explanation, obviously had no idea about any of this.

To be continued


	12. Séance

**Chapter 12: ****Séance**

"You did WHAT?" Shocked, Paige stared at her big sister. Had she not been the one who had repeatedly emphasised how important it was _not_ to make a wish to a genie?

"It was an accident, alright?"

"Well, then reverse it. Now that you've already made one wish, you might as well wish for Phoebe to take it back. It doesn't matter now. Just try to word it more carefully this time."

Piper hesitated a moment before answering, knowing her sister wouldn't like what she had to say.

"No!"

"_What_?" Paige was sure she must have misunderstood the intend of that reply. "Piper, are you insane? You can't just wipe Chris' memory and then leave it like that. You have no right to do that."

"Just hear me out, Paige, will you? You weren't there when Chris told Phoebe about his childhood. He never did that before and he sounded so… so hurt. I don't want him to keep suffering this pain and if that's only possible by making sure he doesn't remember being part of our family, then so be it."

Paige hesitated. At first she had been certain that her sister had gone crazy, but now she slowly began to understand why she had made her decision. To see her own child suffer must have been unbearable for Piper and Paige had to admit that even to her Chris had never appeared to be particularly happy.

But she had also seen how much it had meant to the young man to feel like a full-value member of the Halliwell family once again and to be accepted by all of them. Because although he had become a lot more than just their neurotic whitelighter from the future recently, the discovery of Chris' true identity had brought them all a lot closer together.

And even if he really associated, at least in part, painful memories with his family in his time, Paige still didn't doubt for even one second that he'd rather have those, too, than not to remember anything at all.

She herself had taken the deaths of her foster parents pretty badly, but to forget the time with them in order to not having to deal with the pain of their loss was just unthinkable. And she was sure that Chris, too, felt that way, at least when he still knew that he even had a family.

But before she could even start to explain this to Piper, she was interrupted by the chime of the door bell. Paige rolled her eyes in annoyance. They already had more than enough to deal with without any visitors coming over uninvited.

Piper used the interruption to return to the kitchen and resume taking care of their demon problem, leaving Paige to go and answer the door. She was already preparing an excuse to send whoever it was away again, but when she opened the door, the witch was speechless for a moment.

A giant bouquet of roses, carried by someone all too familiar was waiting outside and before she could even open her mouth to say anything, the visitor raised a hand precautionary to silence her.

"Paige, I know you're still angry with me – and you've got every right to be – " he added quickly as he noticed that the witch was about to say something, "and I also know that you said we shouldn't see each other for a while, but I'm here to apologize."

"Richard, I…" But she didn't get any further, as the sorcerer interrupted her again immediately, an almost desperate expression on his face.

"Please, Paige, let me finish." He paused for a moment, searching for the right words to convince her of his sincerity. "I've thought a lot about what you said and I guess you are right. I probably really use magic too often, even for problems that could easily be solved without it, but you have to understand that magic used to be such a normal, everyday part of my life in the past, that it always seems natural to resort to it." And with a lopsided grin he added:

"And you've got to admit that it really does make a lot of things easier." Although Paige tried to keep a straight face after all the arguments she'd had with her boyfriend because of his excessive use of magic, she couldn't help but smile at this remark involuntarily. After all she herself had regretted more than once not being allowed to use magic in her normal life more often.

But after a short moment, her expression got serious again, because the way Richard had misused magic recently wasn't tolerable anymore, even for her, and there was definitely nothing funny about it. The sorcerer seemed to notice her mood change and when he continued talking, he was completely serious again.

"But I'm sure I can learn to only to use magic only as an exception again; after all you and your sisters do that, too. I will only use it responsibly, and if not then…" he took a deep breath before continuing, "… then I want you to bind my powers."

Paige stared at Richard in surprise. That she would have never expected. Though she had already thought about taking his powers away as a final solution, she would never have believed that he might suggest it on his own. Was he actually serious about this? Was he really willing to give up magic altogether?

Richard could apparently see her doubts, as he now came slowly closer and took the witch's hand gently in his own.

"I would rather give up my magical powers, the books and everything else my family left me than to risk losing you. I love you, Paige."

He might have wanted to kiss her after this, but the young woman didn't want to wait to find out. Within a heartbeat she had her arms wrapped around Richard's neck and pulled him closer while she pressed her lips against his passionately. All the tension between them of the past few weeks was gone and Paige felt again why she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

But for some reason the sorcerer was trying to back away from her and, slightly irritated, Paige could understand the muffled words "the roses". It took her a second to realise what he meant, but then she loosened her hold on him, a half amused, half guilty expression on her face.

"Oh," was everything the witch had to say when she looked down at the crushed bundle of thorned stems and red petals that Richard was still holding. She had completely forgotten about the flowers on the spur of the moment and had pressed them between their bodies, giving them a very squashed appearance.

Laughing, Paige took Richard's hand and pulled him inside the house and into the kitchen, where she wanted to search for a vase for the roses, glad to have a little distraction from the chaos that was going on around her. After what had happened in this house in the past few minutes alone, Paige was sure to be the only sane person left here.

Chris, who had been lying to all of them for the past few months about his true identity, couldn't remember it himself now, Phoebe was a genie, meaning one always had to mind one's words while being around her and Piper… well Piper was a subject on its own.

She had definitely had good intentions when she had decided not to reverse her accidentally made wish, but as soon as there was a quiet moment, Paige would have to give her sister a piece of her mind and emphasise what a stupid idea that had been.

But for now Paige simply ignored the dark haired witch, sitting at the table with a pen and paper, obviously working on the spell they wanted to use to summon Jinny like they had talked about earlier. She and Richard exchanged a short greeting while Paige was busy going through the cupboards, searching for a suitable vase for the flowers.

Richards looked at the two sisters who both had their backs turned to him, completely engrossed in their current tasks. Although there were no clear indications for it, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was currently more going on in the house of the Halliwells than just a routine demon hunt.

Especially Piper seemed to be more distant than usual, as if she was somewhere else completely with her mind, but he had no idea what could be bothering her. Since his fight with Paige a few days ago there had been complete silence between them, so he didn't even know if anything important had happened recently.

But the almost palpable tension between the sisters was indicating that it had.

While Paige was still going through the cupboards in search for a fitting container, Richard's eyes fell on something quite similar, although it didn't really match the requirements. So there was a distinct hint of sarcasm in his voice as he took the vase, or whatever it was and held it in Paige's direction.

"If the colour wasn't so horrible, you could stop searching and just take this for the flowers." He had expected a reaction from Paige or possibly even from Piper, but the sorcerer almost dropped the bottle when there suddenly came an answer from right inside of it.

"Don't you dare! If you even think about pouring water in here, you're gonna have to deal with me first. Do we understand each other, Mister?" Shocked, Richard stared at the item in his hand, which he now held as far away from him as possible, just in case it might pose a threat of any kind. But the voice was silent again and nothing else indicated any activity inside of what he'd, obviously wrongfully, thought to be a vase.

"What the…? What is this?" The laughter of the two present witches brought Richard out of his stupor and he looked up just in time to see Piper walking over to him, before she took the bottle out of his hand, still visibly exhilarated, and put it back on the table.

"Oh, that's just Phoebe. Ignore her." Still very perplex, the young man looked from one sister to the other, waiting for a better explanation, but before Paige could answer him, the genie from inside the bottle spoke up again.

"Yes, thanks a lot, Piper. There he is, trying to drown me, and the only thing you have to say to that is, that he should ignore me? That's not what I would call sisterly love, you know?" But instead of reacting to the accusation, Piper simply rolled her eyes and got back to work on the spell, finally giving Paige the opportunity to explain.

"We've been having some problems with a genie, who then turned out to be a demon, and to prevent her bottle from getting into the hands of another demon, Phoebe was so _kind_ to wish her free. But the catch was that she had to take her place instead and now we've got a dangerous demon on the loose and a sister who takes every wish you say by accident literally." And with a glance at the witch still sitting at the table, she added,

"Isn't that right, Piper?" But the only reply Paige got was a warning glare from her older sister, before she turned back to the spell for Jinny.

Richard was slightly startled about this silent exchange and wondered if he was allowed to ask or if this was an internal dispute between siblings that was none of his business, but Paige took this decision from him as she answered his unspoken question.

"It's just that Piper made an accidental wish, because she wasn't watching her mouth, and now she's partly erased her son's memories and refuses to reverse it." At these words, the red-haired young woman had crossed her arms in front of her chest and was now looking at her sister accusingly, but the latter continued to ignore her.

"What?" Richard asked incredulously. "Why would Piper want to erase Wyatt's memories?" Now it was Paige, who rolled her eyes at this.

"Not Wyatt's, Chris'!" And to her sister she added, "And why she would want to do that I don't understand, either." But Richard didn't even seem to be listening anymore. He stared at Paige, then at Piper, unsure if he had understood his girlfriend correctly.

"Chris… is your son?", he asked disbelievingly. It was this question that finally got the dark haired witch out of her pretended indifference and she fixated Richard with a piercing glare that almost made him back away from her.

"Yes, but he doesn't know it anymore, so you are not going to mention anything to him, is that clear?" The sorcerer just nodded absentmindedly and let himself sink onto one of the kitchen chairs.

He was used to the fact that there was always something happening in the Halliwell Manor by now, but he had surely not expected this new development. Of course he had known that the young whitelighter was from the future, but he would never have expected him to be such a close family member of the sisters.

But then again it was quite dangerous to travel through time to come here and save Wyatt from the influence of evil, so it only made sense for it to be a relative who took this risk.

But what didn't make any sense at all was Piper's behaviour. Why should she not want Chris to remember that he was her son?

Although the witch definitely appeared to have had her problems with the young man, and Richard seemed to recall her wanting to throw him out of the house at some point, their relationship had definitely improved a lot over the course of the last few weeks. When he had been here the last time, she had made the impression to really like Chris, or had he been that mistaken?

But whatever it was that was keeping Piper from reversing her wish would have to wait until later, because the oldest of the Charmed Ones got up from her seat now, the pad with the spell she had been working on in hand, and turned to her younger sister.

"The spell is done, but before we call Jinny we're gonna have to summon a cooperative ghost; any ideas?" Paige shrugged as she mentally went through the list of those who were a possibility.

"What about grams? I'm sure she won't mind a little action." Piper thought about the suggestion for a moment and finally nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I guess that's the best option. She won't ask too many questions and be able to help us quickly."

"What do you need a ghost for?" Richard inquired curiously.

"Seeing as the one who wishes Phoebe free will also have to take her place, Jinny will probably not do it voluntarily. So a ghost, in this case grams, will have to possess her to give her a little push." Paige explained, but before she got to say anything else, she was interrupted by Piper.

"But there is always something that can go wrong. I don't want Wyatt to be in the house when we summon such a powerful demon as Jinny. Could you bring him to Magic School, Paige, while I'll prepare everything here?"

"Sure, not a problem." She was almost about to leave the kitchen, but she turned around to Richard once more. And even though Paige tried to keep her tone of voice as neutral as possible, it was more than evident that she very much hoped for a positive answer to her next question.

"Will you wait?" The young man smiled. Now that he had reconciled with Paige again he wasn't planning on leaving her again any time soon.

"Of course. And since you don't have the Power of Three at the moment, it's at least possible that you might need my help." The witch returned his smile, answered with a simple "good" and left the room to go upstairs to pick up her small nephew.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Paige had orbed out of the house only a few moments ago, when Piper and Richard walked up the stairs to the attic. The sorcerer had offered to help with the preparations for the summoning and intended to go directly to the cabinet with the candles as they entered the room, but stopped abruptly next to Piper as they both realised that they weren't alone.

Chris was studying something in the Book of Shadows, but looked up when he noticed the two new arrivals. His eyes wandered from Piper to Richard and back to the paper and the bottle in Piper's hand and he already had a suspicious why they had come up here. After a short "hi" to Richard he turned back to the witch.

"Did you find a way to turn Phoebe back to normal?" Piper nodded curtly and looked down at the piece of paper in her hand, intend on avoiding eye contact with her son. Now that she knew who he was and after everything that had happened last night it wasn't easy to treat him like an almost stranger again. But she had made her decision and would go through with it. After all it was only for his best.

"Yes, we are going to summon grams so she can posses Jinny and force her to set Phoebe free. We're just waiting until Paige comes back from Magic School to call the demon."

Chris nodded in recognition of her plan and a few minutes later they were standing in front of a circle of lit candles, ready to summon the grandmother of the Charmed Ones into this world once more.

Piper felt as if she was doing this for the hundredths time, when she began to recite the all too familiar words.

"Hear these words, hear my cries

Spirit from the other side

Come to me, I summon …"

Dozens of lights were dancing in circle the candles were marking, but when Piper stopped the incantation they faded again until they disappeared completely. The witch hadn't done this voluntarily thought, but the appearance of several Arabic dressed demons and the need to evade their sword attacks had forced her to it.

In the next few seconds everything happened extremely fast and after it was over Piper only remembered how Chris had pushed her aside as one of the demons had tried to attack her from behind. The young man managed to ward off the attack with the help of a lamp standing close by, but he didn't notice how Jinny herself suddenly materialised in the attic and went directly for the lamp with Phoebe still inside.

Richard saw her just in time though and managed to throw her against the wall with a flick of his wrist. He probably would have been able to keep her in check for a while longer, if a demon hadn't used his distraction to advance on the sorcerer unnoticed and send him to the ground with a well aimed blow to his back.

Richard screamed in anguish as the blade pierced into his flesh, but after only a moment the pain made him lose consciousness. His opponent obviously thought him dead; at least he didn't bother to make sure of it and instead went on to attack Piper who was still on the ground after Chris had pushed her. But he didn't get very far as the witch raised her hands immediately to make him explode on the spot.

She let her eyes wander across the room, from Chris, who was currently fighting two demons at once, to Richard, who was obviously gravely injured, and finally to Jinny, at which sight Piper's breath suddenly caught in her throat.

The demon was standing away from the fighting, a triumphant expression on her face and in her hand the pink bottle with Phoebe inside. But before Piper had any time to react, Jinny smiled at her derisively once more and then vanished as quick and silent as she had appeared in the first place.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

White-blue light in one of the corridors of Magic School announced Paige's appearance there and as soon as she and Wyatt had materialised completely, she headed towards the local kindergarten right away. She would drop off the little boy and then return home as fast as possible so they could finally return Phoebe to her usual self.

Then the two of them would have a calm talk with Piper about what she had done to Chris and make her realise what a big mistake she was just about to make. She just had to listen to both of her sisters.

But before the young woman managed to reach her destination, she was held back as somebody called her name.

"Paige! What are you doing here? Did something happen?" Gideon was standing a few meters behind her and was looking and her and the little boy in her arms in surprise.

"No, no, it's just that we are going to summon a demon at home and Piper wants to make sure that Wyatt's safe, so I'm leaving him here for a while." And with a sigh she added:

"She's just a little over-protective concerning her sons at the moment." Gideon's eyebrows rose as he heard Paige's words. So the sisters knew…

"Her _sons_?", he still asked carefully to be sure not to spill any secrets himself.

Shocked and embarrassed at once, the witch put a hand in front of her mouth and looked at the Elder apologetically.

"Oh, ehm…, well, I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't have said that right now, especially as Leo doesn't even know about it yet. Please, just forget what I just said, alright?" A knowing smile appeared on the lips of the director of Magic School as he answered the young woman.

"You mean that Chris is Piper's and Leo's son? Is that what I'm supposed to forget again?" Completely dumbfounded, Paige stared at the Elder for a long moment, until she found her voice again.

"What? How do you…? Did Chris tell you?" Her words sounded mostly surprised, but the witch couldn't hide the fact completely that she was also slightly hurt. Had Chris really confided his secret to Gideon, someone he barely knew, instead of his own family? The Elder seemed to sense what she was thinking and hurried to explain why he knew about Chris' identity.

"No, he didn't tell me, he just confirmed it. He already told us that he came from about twenty years in the future and after I found out that he's not only a whitelighter, but also part witch, I found it to be quite obvious if one took his age and his attachment to you all into account. I just wasn't sure if he was your son or Piper's and he was so kind and confirmed the latter."

Paige stared at Gideon in silence once more, feeling like a complete idiot. The way the Elder had now listed the clues for Chris' identity, it really seemed to be the most logical conclusion ever, that he was related to them. How could she possibly not have seen this? But her chain of thoughts was suddenly interrupted as Gideon picked something up she had previously said.

"But what did you mean with Piper being 'over-protective'? Isn't it normal for a mother to want to protect her children?"

"Yes, of course it is. But the demon we're about to summon had been a genie not long ago until Phoebe accidentally changed places with her. And because Chris has apparently gone through a lot of bad stuff in his past, Piper wished for him to forget that and now he doesn't even know that he's her son anymore. He actually completely forgot that he's a part of our family. And because Piper has this insane idea that it's better for him this way, she refuses to take the wish back."

Seeing the shocked expression on Gideon's face, Paige just made a throwaway gesture to signal that the Elder didn't have to be concerned.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about it. As soon as Phoebe is herself again we'll make sure to get Piper back to her senses." She stopped, reminding herself that she was actually in a hurry and gave the Elder an apologetic smile before she turned to leave.

"Please excuse me, Gideon, but I really have to drop Wyatt off and get back to my sisters. I'm sure they're already waiting."

"Yes, of course. And good luck with the demon."

"Thanks." But in the instant Paige wanted to go on in the direction of the kindergarten, she suddenly felt a tingling sensation all over her body, like each time she was orbing. Though it wasn't herself who had caused this, but Wyatt had decided to bring both of them back to the Halliwell Manor immediately, without Paige having even a clue as to what was awaiting her there.

To be continued


	13. Desperate Times, Desperate

**Chapter 13: Desperate Times, Desperate****...**

Gideon walked through the halls of Magic School purposefully in the direction of his office. A confident smile was playing on his lips as he went through the next steps in his plan to eliminate the Halliwell offspring.

Knowing that Chris had come to this time to prevent Wyatt from ever becoming a threat, he had already toyed with the idea of making the young man a pawn in his game. But ever since he had found out that the two were brothers, every hope he'd had to be able to convince the Charmed Ones' whitelighter to kill Wyatt seemed to have been in vain. Because even if he would have been able to convince Chris that there was no more hope for his brother to stay on the side of good, the Elder doubted very much that the young man would ever have been able to kill his own brother in cold blood. After all, Gideon knew all too well how strong the familiar bonds between the Halliwells were.

But not his luck finally seemed to have turned. If Chris truly didn't remember being a Halliwell anymore, then there was surely a way to convince him, with the right amount of tact of course, of the fact that there was no other way left to stop Wyatt than to get rid of him for good. And if he should fail against expectations, maybe even get killed by the sisters in the heat of the moment – one problem less the Elder would have to solve. Either way, it was a win-win situation for him.

Now he only had to find a way to give Chris a push in the right direction, without the possibility of anything being traced back to him. But when Gideon closed the door of his office behind him, he already had an idea. Maybe it was time for a little unorthodox collaboration…

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

When Paige materialised again, she found herself in the middle of the attic of the Halliwell manor. Completely perplexed, she was still staring down at Wyatt in her arms, who had brought them both here without her consent, but only a short moment later, her attention was caught by what was going on around her.

The first thing she saw when her surroundings were clearly visible again, was Piper blowing up an Arabic dressed demon who was attacking Chris, although her help didn't even seem to be necessary as the young man could obviously handle his own very well.

But judging by the state of the attic, this demon had surely not been their only attacker. Candles, which had obviously been arranged in a circle before, were not littered across the floor and several scorch marks on the carpet revealed the spots where other demons had already met their demise.

"Are you alright?" Paige asked in shock as she crossed the small distance between herself, her sister and her nephew. The two seemed to be unharmed, but maybe their injuries were just not clearly visible.

"I was just about to drop Wyatt off in Magic School when he suddenly brought us back here. I know you wanted him out of the house, Piper, I'm so sorry."

The oldest of the Charmed Ones came up to her and took the small boy out of her sister's arms, her expression much more serious than Paige had expected. As soon as she had a firm hold on Wyatt, Piper took a hand of the younger woman and looked into her eyes concerned. Her voice was strangely hollow and sad when she finally spoke.

"It's fine. Chris and I are alright, but…" Her eyes wandered from her sister's face to a spot on the ground several feet behind her and suddenly Piper found that she couldn't continue to speak. There had been too much pain and suffering in her family recently and she knew that as soon as Paige turned around, her heart would shatter.

The red haired witch looked at her older sister for a moment in confusion, before a horrible sense of foreboding spread out inside of her and took away her breath. She knew exactly what was expecting her behind her and with the feeling that each of her movements was taking forever, she followed Piper's line of sight and slowly turned around.

Not even three feet from the spot where Paige had appeared moments ago, a figure dressed in black was lying motionless on the ground with his back to her. Richard, the man who meant the world to her was lying there, a large pool of blood underneath his body that was expanding with a terrifying speed.

Paige freed herself from her sister's grasp and hurried to the side of her boyfriend. After everything had been happening in slow motion for a moment, the world appeared to be making up for that by speeding things up to twice their usual rate now.

Before she even knew what was happening, Paige was already kneeling behind Richard and gently stroked across his cheek with the back of her hand. Tears were running down her face, blurring her sight, as heart-wrenching sobs were shaking her body.

The half- whitelighter could feel as Piper sat beside her hesitantly and laid her hands on her shoulders in a consoling gesture, but Paige shook them off immediately; she just couldn't bear the touch at the moment.

This couldn't be happening. It simply couldn't. How could Richard be dead when she had spoken to him not even ten minutes ago? But maybe there was still hope, maybe he was still alive.

Paige leaned over the motionless man and felt with shaking fingers for a pulse at his neck. She was completely quiet now, didn't even dare to breathe, while she was desperately waiting for a sign that there was still some life left in her boyfriend's body.

There! Faint and barely noticeable, but she was certain that she had felt his pulse. Without even thinking about it, Paige moved her hands a few inches over Richard's wound and tried to concentrate on healing him. Sure, she had never been able to do that before, but she was the daughter of a whitelighter after all. That ability just had to be hidden somewhere inside of her. But nothing happened. No glowing, no nothing.

"Paige… you can't…" She heard the sympathetic words of her sister, but there was no comfort in them.

"I know!" She answered simply, her voice constricted with another sob, before she pulled Richard closer, so that his upper body was resting in her lap. The young woman wrapped her arms around his chest and lowered her head so her forehead was resting on his and her tears disappeared into his hair.

She could barely hear how Piper kept calling for her husband repeatedly to try and still save Richard, but instead let herself be overwhelmed by her grief, only one thought in her mind that she whispered again and again with a hoarse voice, like a mantra, as if it could change anything about what happened.

"I love you… I love you… I love you…"

x

Chris stood behind the two witches motionless and watched compassionately as Paige tried to save Richard's life. The young woman was so desperate that she even tried to heal him herself, although she had to know that that was not within her powers. And just as expected, nothing happened, so that eventually Piper had to remind her sister of the harsh truth. But Paige just answered with a choked "I know", before she pulled her beloved against her and completely collapsed over his lifeless body.

As Piper pulled her attention away from her sister and began calling for Leo, Chris could hear Paige assuring Richard repeatedly that she loved him and even though he knew that he had never lost a loved one, he couldn't shake the feeling that he could relate to her sadness all too well. But there was no time to find out where this feeling was coming from, as the events before him suddenly caught his attention again.

Since Piper was sitting directly behind her sister, and couldn't see Richard over her back, Chris was the first to notice the sudden change. Not even the red headed young woman herself seemed to realize when a soft glowing light started to emit from her hands and got increasingly stronger with every word she spoke.

Chris reacted instantly, laid a hand on Piper's shoulder and silently whispered "Wait". The witch stopped calling for Leo immediately and looked up at her son rather confused, but then followed his gaze and finally she, too, saw the light coming from Paige's hands. It kept spreading further, covered Richard's wound and slowly but surely the blood that had been soaking his clothes and the floor started to disappear.

x

"Paige." As she heard her name uttered from below her, the witch opened her eyes, lifted her head a few inches and finally froze when her eyes met Richard's. For a long moment she just kept staring at him in bewilderment, couldn't believe that he was still with her, while tears were still running down her face.

Her disbelief only vanished when Richard smiled at her and gently stroked across her cheek. He held her gaze captive and very slowly Paige's face lit up with a smile, too.

In a heartbeat she took a hold of his hand and pressed it against her cheek, as another sob escaped from her throat, but this time from happiness.

He lived. He wasn't dead. And in this moment it didn't matter who or what had saved him, the only thing that mattered was that he wasn't gone.

Overwhelmed with joy, the witch leaned down to Richard and kissed him, long and passionately, completely forgetting what was going on around her.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Genie-Phoebe was pacing inside of her bottle and slowly but surely she was about to panic. There was something happening outside, her sisters needed her help, but nobody had really talked to her since Piper had sent her back in here, let alone let her out.

Only a moment ago there had been voices and the noises of a fight, but now it was frighteningly silent and Phoebe was already fearing the worst. She was about to call for her sisters once more, but was cut short by an imperious voice and when she looked up, the genie could vaguely make out the face of the former inhabitant of this bottle.

"I hope you like pink, because you are going to stay in there for a very long time." The demon seemed to ponder something for a moment, but then an icy smile spread across her lips.

"Now let's start with my first wish. And I think it's time for you to prepare yourself for becoming an only child." Frozen in terror, Phoebe stared up at her new master. She couldn't do anything to prevent this wish, absolutely nothing. She would have to kill her own sisters.

Panicking, the young woman tried to come up with something to say to dissuade Jinny from her plan, but what could she possibly say to stop a demon from using this unique opportunity to get rid off two of the Charmed Ones? Phoebe was still thinking hard, as the new owner of her bottle started her wish, sounding immensely triumphant.

"Genie, I wish…" But she didn't get any further as the excited voice of one of her underlings suddenly interrupted her. The demon seemed to have run all the way, as he had to stop talking several times to breathe.

"Mistress… Mistress! We… found… we found it! Zanbar!"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

There were loud and desperate screams echoing through one of the many caves of the underworld. While that wasn't really anything unusual in itself, in this case a non-participant observer might have wondered what the demon, who was screaming like this, was even afraid of.

Because there was no visible reason for the creature to back away with arms raised in front of its face defensively, all the while emitting terror filled noises.

Once the demon's back hit a hard rock wall, the look of terror on his face finally froze and he dropped to the ground, dead. Flames burst from the body instantaneously, as usual for a creature of the underworld and nothing but smoke and ash remained.

"Hm, it's just not the same." These words came from a man completely dressed in black, with short greyed hair, who now emerged from behind a rock formation in the cave. His face showed a disappointed and bored expression while he watched the remains of the weak demon he'd just literally scared to death.

It really wasn't the same. In the past he'd used to make witches suffer through their worst fears, thereby killing them and now he had to restrict himself to torturing a few feeble demons every now and then to pass the time. What had become of him?

But he was fully aware that should he leave the underworld and go after witches again, it would only be a matter of time until the Charmed Ones would learn of his return from the land of the dead and hunt him down again. And he could definitely pass on that.

And, he thought with a smile, they were still mortal. They wouldn't live forever. Sooner or later one of them would bite the dust and then it would be his time once again. All he needed until then was a little patience, even if it meant spending the next fifty years killing lowly demons. It still beat being killed himself.

The demon sighed deeply and was about to leave the cave, when a voice behind him suddenly made him turn around.

"What is the problem? Is killing your own kind not as satisfactory as torturing innocents?" Barbas looked around warily, but he couldn't see anyone, although the speaker was definitely not more than a few meters in front of him. And he had used the word 'innocents', a term that nobody liked to use as much as those 'up there'.

"Well, first of all, neither do I consider puny creatures like this one", he motioned over his shoulder at the remains of the demon, "as _my kind_, nor do I believe that there is anyone among the humans truly deserving the word 'innocent', and secondly I have to point out that you are in my world, so I don't think that you have anything to say here at all. Now you better get out before I kick your invisible butt."

With that the demon thought everything was said, but his mysterious visitor was not willing to leave without having achieved anything.

"There is no reason for so much anger, Barbas. I am just here to offer you a deal we'll both benefit from." The dark clad demon threw a contemptuous glance in the direction he suspected his opponent and snorted irritated.

"If you actually expect me to negotiate about anything with nothing but a mere voice you will find that you are very much mistaken. Show yourself or get out!"

"Only if I have your word that you'll listen to what I have to say." Barbas thought about this for a moment, but finally nodded, albeit reluctantly.

"Alright." The demon of fear was clearly surprised as he recognised the man than now appeared in front of him. He was an Elder without a doubt, but not only that. Judging by his robes he was Gideon, the director of Magic School, down here to collaborate with a demon. Well, maybe the imminent future wouldn't turn out to be as boring and eventless as he had expected.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"Still nothing?" Piper rolled her eyes in annoyance as her sister, who was pacing the floor nervously, asked her that for the fourth time in the last five minutes, but she continued to let the crystal pendulum in her hand circle over the world map on the table.

"No Paige, I still haven't found anything. And if you ask me that one more time…" The witch let the threat hang in the air, causing Paige to turn around to her angrily, hands on her hips.

"Oh, please excuse me for being worried because a demon, who would probably like nothing more than to see us dead, has just kidnapped our wish granting sister. I don't know how you think about this, but I'm actually a little surprised that we're even still alive. Not that I would want to encourage her, but why doesn't Jinny just wish for the two of us to die? I mean she's got the power to do it, right?"

At a complete loss, she looked from Piper to Chris and Richard, who were both standing beside the table with the map, too, waiting for the oldest Charmed One to find her missing sister. The young whitelighter shrugged, before answering Paige.

"Maybe she wants to save her wishes for something else and doesn't think that you're still a threat to her." In this very moment the scrying crystal went down on the world map with a satisfying 'clack', landing on a desert area somewhere in Syria. Piper lifted her eyes from the map triumphantly and looked around.

"Well, should that be the case I think it's about time that we prove her wrong." She went over to one of the shelves determinedly and took a few of the vanquishing potions they were keeping there, then turned around to her son and Richard.

"Somebody has to look out for Wyatt, while Paige and I get Phoebe back. It would take up too much time to try again to get him to Magic School, and who knows if he wouldn't just orb back here anyway." Aimed at her sister, she added, "We should go immediately, 'cause your right, Jinny's got the means to kill us at any moment and I really don't want to push our luck unnecessarily."

Chris picked up a sword belonging to one of their dead attackers and went to stand beside Paige demonstratively.

"I'm guessing that Jinny's got an entire army of demons by now that is going to fight for her. So you're gonna need all the help you can get." He smiled, obviously certain of their success and with clear anticipation of the fight. "And I'm your whitelighter after all, so it's my job to look out for you."

Paige looked at the young man beside her suspiciously with raised eyebrows.

"Alright, Mr., if you're that bent on encountering a huge bunch of belligerent demons." Then she went over to Richard and gently took his hands in hers.

"Is it alright if you stay here? I know you don't like staying on the sideline." But the sorcerer simply freed one of his hands from her grasp and stroked softly across the young woman's cheek.

"Of course it's alright. Someone has to look after Wyatt after all and I did promise not to use magic that much anymore." Then he leaned forward and kissed her gently. "Just be careful, okay? Your new powers aren't going to work on yourself, right?"

The female half-whitelighter had to smile unconsciously as she thought of her newest ability that had saved her boyfriend's life not even half an hour ago. After she had tried it so many timed unsuccessfully, her heritage had finally shown the moment she had needed it the most. Paige couldn't even put into words how grateful she was for that.

"They won't need to. I'll be careful, I promise." With that she turned away from Richard and went back over to Piper and Chris, who were already waiting for her. Paige took her sister's hand and orbed them both into the direction of the middle east, Chris right behind them.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

The three demons that were present in the cave the Halliwells materialised in a short time later didn't even see the attack coming. Before they could so much as turn around Piper had already blown them up, but in that exact moment another one of Jinny's fighters entered through one of the adjoining tunnels.

He, too, met his end quickly, through one of the vanquishing potions thrown by Paige, but he managed to scream alarm just in time, alerting the entire cave system.

With a fling of his arm, Chris threw the first two of the three dozen demons that soon rushed into the cave to the ground, taking a few of the others down with them, but most of them continued to head directly for the witches and their whitelighter.

"Sword!" Paige disarmed one of her attackers and gave him a taste of his own weapon, but before this demon had even burst into flames, another one had already taken its place. Their majority was vast, but none of them was even remotely strong enough to be a match especially to Piper's powers. Before most of them knew what was happening, they were already not much more than a pile of dust on the floor.

But while the witch was busy blowing up single demons or small groups of them, which was getting rather exhausting for her over time, she didn't notice as three of Jinny's fighters managed to drive Chris so far back that he was literally with his back against the wall. He was still fighting with the sword he had taken from a dead demon earlier and at first he managed to defend himself pretty well. But soon the blade of one of his enemies hit his right arm, making it increasingly harder to hold his own weapon, let alone ward off attacks with it.

Chris felt as he broke into a sweat as the fight was constantly getting more arduously. And he would have to finish it on his own, because out of the corner of his eye he had already seen that both Piper and Paige were having their hands full and would hardly be able to come and help him.

So he clenched his teeth and ignored the pain in both his right arm and his left shoulder, where his opponents had hit him and continued fighting. And after a relatively short time, one of the demons finally made a mistake Chris took advantage off to slay him instantly.

But when he pulled his sword out of the dying body, and had to parry a blow at the same moment, it threw him off balance so much that a forceful push of his third attacker sent him crashing to the ground.

His weapon fell to the floor with a loud clatter and skidded out of his reach and before Chris could even think about getting it back using his telekinetic powers, he already saw the deadly sword blow of the nearest demon rushing down at him.

He closed his eyes instinctively before the blade could hit him and waited for the pain, but to his great surprise and relief, it never came. Instead, he heard Piper's angry voice thundering through the cave.

"Don't you dare!" When Chris opened his eyes again to see what had happened, he cursed silently and closed them again immediately as a fine rain of ash surrounded him and burned under his lids. He stood back up with one hand against the wall, while he used the other to wipe over his face repeatedly to remove the remains of dead demons, as it was obvious that Piper had made his opponents explode.

But when he opened his eyes again and wanted to thank her, he was stunned into silence instead as he looked around. The cave that had only seconds ago been filled with at least ten demons was now completely empty except for the Halliwells. At a few spots he could still see how the burnt remains of their enemies rained to the ground slowly.

With an acknowledging whistle Chris went over to the two witches, while looking around once more to make sure that all the demons were really dead. But there was no one left beside them and so they left the cave through the tunnel the demons had entered through to resume their search for Jinny and Phoebe.

To be continued


	14. Crime and Punishment

**Chapter 14: Crime and Punishment**

Chris followed the two witches in a small distance, making sure that they wouldn't be surprised from behind. But instead of concentrating on any possible pursuers, his eyes kept wandering back to his right arm that Paige had healed a few minutes ago.

The young woman had only had her magical powers for a few years, and yet she'd already discovered the ability to heal within herself. And even though he barely used it, given his mostly merciless nature, Wyatt already possessed it since he was a child.

Only he, Chris Perry, couldn't do it, although he was part whitelighter, just like the two of them. He wasn't able to heal even the smallest scratch, no matter how often he'd already tried it.

Angry about his own meagre powers, he kept staring at his hands, while he thought about how extremely superior Wyatt had been to him in the future. Without his trip to the past, a time in which the powers of his enemy were still at least somewhat limited, he and the rest of the resistance would surely have been wiped out soon.

Chris paused abruptly, as a frightening thought suddenly formed in his mind. _What if it was already too late?_

No, he still had time, he tried to convince himself. There was no demon at the moment, who seemed to have a particular interest in Wyatt.

But the concern stayed persistent.

_After all Jinny's controlling a genie right now. Who knows what she, or some other demon__, who gets his hands on the bottle might wish for?_

The young man ran both his hands across his face indecisively, as he felt fear spreading inside of him. Jinny really might be wishing for something that could cause Wyatt's change at any moment now and he had no chance of stopping her. What was he supposed to do?

_I have to stop him. Once and for all, before it is too late._ The thought was sitting heavily on his stomach, but at the same time Chris felt the certainty grow inside of him, that this really was the only way to save the future, his world.

He swallowed hard and looked blankly at Piper and Paige, who had stopped to see why he wasn't coming.

"I am sorry, but I have to stop him." With these words Chris left the tunnel in a swirl of light and orbed back to the Halliwell Manor.

x

Chris' emotionless words still seemed to hang in the air as the two sisters looked at each other in confusion. Paige opened her mouth to say something, but Piper beat her to it and uttered the words that had just been on the younger witch's mind.

"What the hell…?" Paige simply shrugged and looked back at the spot where her nephew had been standing just a moment ago. What had he been talking about? Why did he leave so suddenly? She posed these questions to her sister as well, but Piper was just as clueless as she.

The mother of the young man turned from one side to the other as she looked back the way they had come from and into the darkness of the tunnel ahead of them. She wasn't sure what to do now. On the one hand they didn't have any time to waste to find Jinny and Phoebe, but on the other hand she was extremely worried about Chris' strange behaviour.

She glanced once more into the direction where she suspected her lost sister, before turning back to Paige.

"I've got a really bad feeling about this. We could keep looking for Phoebe on our own, but I'm worried about Chris." Paige nodded approvingly and immediately grabbed Piper's hand.

"I'll orb us back home. If he's not there we can at least scry for him."

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

When the two witches appeared in the attic, everything seemed to be just as they had left it. Although that impression changed the second they turned around.

"Oh my god!" Paige uttered in shock, before she raised her hand to use her powers. Piper was next to her, rooted to the spot and completely unable to move as her mind kept refusing to accept what she was seeing in front of her.

Both of her sons were there, separated from them by a blue gleaming force field; Wyatt was sitting on the floor, one of his plush toys in his arms, while Chris was kneeling in front of him, an athame raised above his head with both hands. The little boy was looking up at his 'big' brother innocently, his own shield not active, as if he wasn't in any danger at all.

"Athame!" Paige's panic filled voice rang across the attic as she tried to orb the weapon away from Chris, but without the desired effect. She couldn't disarm the young whitelighter through the magical field protecting him, and only caused him to turn around to them.

Chris' face was sad, but also determined as he looked over to the two women.

"I am sorry, but I have no other choice." And after a moment of hesitation, during which he closed his eyes as if he was listening to something only he could hear, he added,

"I have to stop Wyatt now, while I still have the chance or many others will die because of him." He raised the athame he again, as he had lowered it slightly during his explanation, to finally fulfil his task.

But he was interrupted by Piper, who rushed towards him, stopping only a few inches away from the force field, and begged him with tears in her eyes, her voice trembling.

"You can't do that. We are a family, and whatever happened to Wyatt in your time, we can still prevent it. I promise!" And as she slowly sank to the floor, she added almost inaudibly,

"You can't kill your brother." But Chris had heard her and his head snapped back around to stare at the desperate witch.

"What? What did you just say?" He must have misheard, there was no way that Piper had said that Wyatt was his brother. He knew that he was an orphan, raised by foster parents; but now that he tried to concentrate on his childhood, the memories suddenly started to blur. Almost everything that wasn't connected to his time here with the Halliwells was becoming hazy and somehow seemed… wrong or at least incomplete.

Chris lowered the weapon again and pressed both hands against his temples to calm the chaos that was raging in his head, but it didn't help. Until a thought suddenly drowned out everything else and stopped the rush of his memories.

_It's just a trick. They are using a confusion spell to stop me, but they won't succeed._

"Right, just a trick." Whispering, Chris repeated the thought and then turned back to Piper, who had watched his strange behaviour, still horrified.

"I know that you want to stop me, but stay out of my head! And keep your lies to yourself!"

Then he looked back at the young boy in front of him, who apparently still didn't see a need to defend himself and kept staring at him trustily. But as much as Chris tried, he couldn't ignore Piper's tear-stricken voice when she spoke again.

"You can't remember and that's my fault. I wished for it." Piper swallowed hard, but the lump in her throat only kept getting bigger with every word she spoke. "I didn't mean to, but still. I thought… if you were happier this way… You're my son and I love you. …Please!"

Her voice broke completely at these words and the witch was just sobbing uncontrollably while she laid her hand against the force field as if it were a sheet of glass, so close that the hair in the back of her neck stood on end from the energy.

Shaken by Piper's emotional words, Chris stared at her as he lowered the athame once more unconsciously. Could she be telling the truth after all? Was she his mother and Wyatt, the greatest tyrant of his time, his own brother? Well, at least that would be an explanation why he would be happier without these memories.

Confused, he looked down at the young boy and tried to find any resemblance between them, but neither as a boy nor as an adult did Wyatt resemble him even in the slightest. Piper on the other hand…

_No, she's lying! Don't fall for it!_ The thoughts were back, this time with an intensity that caused him a headache.

_Think of all the suffering Wyatt has caused. Can that be your brother? Piper is his mother__; she would say anything to protect him._

Chris had his hands at his temples again, while he repeated in a low whisper the words in his mind.

"That's not true. Wyatt can't be my brother, but you would say anything to save him." Paige, who had been watching the exchange quietly, stepped next to her sister and looked at her nephew urgently.

"Chris, I know you're afraid of what might happen, if you fail on your mission, but…" The young woman stopped suddenly, when a thought occurred to her that was both reassuring and alarming at the same time.

"Afraid." She whispered quietly, as she went through the last minutes again in her mind.

The way Chris kept clutching at his head, how he seemed to be hearing something that only he could hear and how he drew back every time Piper was getting through to him…

Following the example of her sister, Paige laid her hands against the force field now, too, and spoke to her nephew imploringly.

"Chris, listen to me! Is there a voice in you head, something or someone who's telling you not to trust us? Who keeps fuelling your fears?" Uncertain, the young man looked up at the witch, not sure where she was going with this, when all of a sudden words, as forceful as a stroke of lightning, formed in his mind.

KILL HIM! NOW! BEFORE THEY CAN STOP YOU! And without really wanting to, Chris realised that he was lifting the athame again, his eyes fixed on Wyatt. As if from far away he could still hear Paige's voice, but it became quieter with each moment.

"It's Barbas! You have to fight against him! He wants you to kill your own brother!"

DON'T LISTEN TO THESE TREACHEROUS WITCHES! YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FAMILY HERE, YOU'VE GOT NOBODY AND WYATT WILL KILL EVERYONE WHO'LL EVER MEAN SOMETHING TO YOU IF YOU DON'T STOP HIM NOW!

But Piper's voice made him halt again, and although it reached him even fainter that Paige's, it was many times more emphatic.

"Chris, you can beat him, 'cause I know you're strong. You've already had to fight so many times in your life and you won't let yourself be controlled by your fears. You… ah!"

The witch broke of abruptly, as her hand accidentally touched the force field and the energy discharge hurled her back halfway across the room. But in hindsight she was more than glad about his, because her scream had finally managed to pull Chris out of his trance-like state. Shocked, he dropped the athame and turned in Piper's direction.

"Mum! Are you alright?" But before the young man could get an answer, there was suddenly a voice behind him, and this time the others could hear it, too.

"Oh, if you don't do it yourself…" Chris whirled around, but before he could see anything else but the black robe of the new arrival, the man standing behind him had already gripped his throat and pulled him to his feet. He had never seen Barbas himself, but this demon looked exactly like the picture in the Book of Shadows.

"How many times did I tell you to simply kill him? Was that really too much to ask?" With one hand he released his hold on Chris, although his grip loosened only slightly, and ran the back of his hand through the air in front of Chris' face.

"I've seen your fears and I know exactly how much you're afraid that Wyatt will grow up to become the same man you know once more. And still you didn't obey me. Why not?"

Chris' didn't get the chance to answer, though, as Paige, who was back beside the force field, supporting Piper, interrupted him.

"Because, in contrast to you, he isn't a murderer!" Barbas just threw a disdainful glance at the young woman, before turning back to Chris.

"You should keep your nose out of things you don't know anything about, witch." And then, more to himself, he murmured,

"But maybe he was wrong and the connection between you and your brother was still too strong, even when you couldn't remember your relation."

"_He_?" Chris inquired curiously, but the demon simply shook his head.

"My sources are none of your business. And now… say 'good night'." With these words he threw Chris with his back against the force field, the energy knocking him out instantly. When the young whitelighter had slummed to the floor unconsciously, Barbas wanted to take the athame and finish the job, but he never got the chance.

Wyatt had so far just been watching what the strange man did, certain that he wasn't a threat to him, but when Chris went to the ground hurt, he activated his own force field, which he extended around his brother so it spread inside the already existing field as far as possible.

The energy charged square, created by four stones in the inner corners, prevented anyone to pass it from both the outside and the inside, so that Barbas, who was pushed back now by Wyatt's shield, didn't have any way of escaping and was trapped between the two force fields.

The demon of fear screamed in agony as the combined energy surged through his body, but it didn't even take ten seconds until he erupted in flames and perished.

Piper and Paige watched in relief as he crumbled into dust and while he fell apart, the outer force field began to flicker and then collapsed completely. At the same time Wyatt lowered his shield, too, so in the end there was nothing keeping Piper from sinking down between her two sons, checking Chris' condition, and after she was sure that he was just unconscious, pulling Wyatt into her arms, crying.

Paige kneeled down next to the unmoving whitelighter and let her hands hover over his body. She concentrated and her palms started glowing immediately and after only a few seconds Chris opened his eyes with a groan.

Still slightly disoriented, the young whitelighter stayed on the ground for a moment unmoving, as he tried to remember how he came to be in this position. But as his eyes fell on Piper's tear-stained face and Wyatt in her arms, the full impact of what had just happened suddenly hit him.

He had tried to murder a small child, his own brother. Breathing heavily he sat up and turned sideways, because he had the slight feeling of getting sick. But nothing happened apart from his stomach and throat constricting painfully.

Chris didn't dare to turn around and face his mother, so he lowered his head and remained in this position for now. But when somebody laid a hand on his back reassuringly he flinched and looked up.

Paige was crouching beside him, a tense expression on her face.

"Chris, where is Richard?" The witch didn't ask what had happened, because she knew that Chris wasn't fully to blame for his actions, but the young man was sure he heard the implied question what exactly he had done to her lover. He swallowed and looked back at the ground before answering.

"He's in Wyatt's room." Without another word Paige left the attic and ran down the stairs to look for her boy-friend, whom Chris had knocked out with a vase after his return to the manor.

So only Piper, Wyatt and Chris remained, but the young man still avoided to turn around to his mother. And even when he heard her still shaking, but soft voice, he refused to comply to her demand at first.

"Chris, look at me. Please." But her next words surprised the young man so much that he immediately dropped his hesitation.

"I'm sorry about what happened. I…" The witch broke off as she looked into the disbelieving eyes of her son.

"You're sorry?_ I_ almost killed Wyatt and _you're_ sorry? I know I'm your son, but... you should hate me for this."

Guilt-ridden, Chris lowered his head as he felt tears rushing to his eyes. So he could only see out of the corner of his eyes as Piper sat Wyatt on the ground before she crossed the small distance between herself and her 'youngest' and pulled him into her arms, crying.

She didn't loosen her embrace even for a moment as she spoke to Chris in a calming voice.

"It was my fault that you couldn't remember who you are. If you had even suspected that Wyatt is your brother, Barbas would never have been able to make you hurt him." She pulled back a little to look into Chris' eyes and added with a resolute voice: "And you didn't."

The young man nodded after a brief moment of hesitation, not as convinced of his innocence as Piper obviously was. He only had a few fragments of his memories back, but when he thought of all the suffering Wyatt had caused in his time, he couldn't be a hundred percent sure to never have considered the idea of killing his brother.

But when he now looked at the small boy staring up at him with big eyes, he was almost certain to have abandoned that idea a long time before his memory loss. Or at least he hoped so.

He picked Wyatt up and helped Piper to her feet, before apologising to the little boy.

"I'm sorry about what happened. I just hope you won't keep bringing this up when we grow up together." Piper had to smile involuntarily as she saw her two sons together like this and even Chris seemed to be a lot less downcast than before. But when Paige and Richard entered the attic suddenly, Chris felt his guilt returning full force.

Richard hadn't suspected anything when he had returned to the manor and it had been easy to knock him out with a vase from the hallway as he was distracted. And in that moment, the young man hadn't even cared that he might have killed his future uncle with this.

So Chris was all the more glad to see that Richard was fine again after Paige had obviously healed his injury. He was just about to open his mouth to apologise, when the sorcerer raised his hand to silence him.

"You don't need to apologise. Paige told me what happened. You weren't yourself, so just forget about it." Chris nodded once more after a slight hesitation, although rather reluctantly.

They all were so quick to forgive him for what he'd done, or tried to do. But as he had perceived Barbas' voice as a part of his own thoughts, he wasn't even sure where the demon's influence had started and his own thinking had ended. How far did he have to be pushed to almost become a child murderer and how far did he go on his own?

He'd probably never really be able to tell, so for now he chose to push his doubts into the back of his mind and focus again on the real problems at hand. And when Piper took Wyatt out of his arms, she reminded him that they still had a lot to do.

"We still have to find Phoebe. We shouldn't waste any more time before Jinny decides to wish for our deaths after all or she finds this 'Zanbar', or whatever she's been talking about." After these words Piper had meant to leave the attic with Wyatt on her arm and go downstairs, but stopped when Richard stood in her way and instead of stepping aside kept staring at her in shock. All color was drained from his face.

"Did you just say 'Zanbar'?"

"Yes." Piper looked over to Paige in confusion, to see if she could make any sense of her boy-friend's reaction, but she seemed to be just as startled. "What about it?"

Richard sighed heavily and ran a hand across his face as if he was searching for words to deliver some very bad news. Finally he asked,

"What did Jinny tell you about it?" Piper shrugged indecisively before answering.

"That it's a magical city in the desert and used to be the centre of some evil empire." But she still couldn't see how this explained Richard's almost frightened reaction.

"But the city's been deserted and lost for ages. How can it still be a threat?"

"Zanbar is an incredibly powerful magical centre, fuelled by a nexus that's many times as strong as the one under this house. The Source had been the ruler of the city for centuries, before it was buried by the desert for unknown reasons. They say that as a result he lost the greater part of his powers, and he was still as strong as when you met him a few years ago."

It slowly began to dawn on the witches what kind of danger they might be facing and now it didn't even surprise them anymore that Jinny hadn't bothered to wish for their deaths. With this power she would easily be able to finish them off herself.

"Are you saying that Jinny could become the new Source?" Paige asked hesitantly.

"Worse. She could destroy the Cleaners and rule over everything. Not just the underworld, but the entire planet."

An eerie silence fell over the attic as everyone present thought about these terrifying prospects. But after a few moments, Chris' coldly spoken words ripped through the tension, capturing everyone's attention.

"Like Wyatt."

To be continued


	15. Strategic Retreat

**Chapter 15: Strategic Retreat **

Phoebe took a deep breath, before she took another run-up and threw herself against the wall of her prison. The pink bottle swayed heavily, but still remained standing, much to the dismay of its inhabitant.

After Jinny had learned about the discovery of Zanbar, she and her henchmen had immediately rushed to the spot where the skeletons of two of the city's watchdogs had been found and there genie-Phoebe had been forced to fulfil her current master's first wish.

It had only taken a nod of her head, and the golden towers of Zanbar had risen from the ground, tons of sand yielding and releasing the ancient city they had buried so long ago. The demons had stood in awe in front of the massive white walls, surrounding the city, until their newly declared queen had approached the gate triumphantly.

To her great frustration, Phoebe was cut off from most of what was happening outside of her bottle and so she only knew that she had to be somewhere inside the city at the moment. Jinny had put the bottle down a while ago and since then nobody had even come near it, making it impossible to know for the genie what was happening around her. But she was about to change that.

With one more determined push the bottle fell to the side and rolled across the table it was lying on, blue smoke billowing out of the opening. After Phoebe had pulled herself up from the floor, where she had more or less crash-landed, she looked around curiously and realised that she was completely alone in a small room that had apparently once served as a storeroom. But the shelves on the wall and the caskets and cases on top of them where covered in inches of dust and cobwebs and even the ornaments on the walls were barely visible anymore.

Everything would have been grey and drab, had it not been for the auspicious bluish light shining in through the slightly open door. The light was moving and painted shimmering patterns on the walls, as if it was reflected by a water surface, but when Phoebe approached the crack of the door, she couldn't see any water in the room in front of her.

But she could see the source of the light right away; a large column, at least thirteen feet tall, that appeared to consist of liquid energy, emanated from the ground on the other end of the temple-like hall and rose almost to the ceiling, where a large stone in the form of a pyramid turned upside down was mounted.

Phoebe was frozen to the spot as she felt the power pulsating from the light – here even a normal person would have felt it – and watched the constantly shifting patterns inside the column.

Only when a dark silhouette stepped between her and the light, was she able to pull her eyes away from it, and to her horror she had to realise that it was none other than Jinny who now stepped towards the column.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"What?" Piper stared at her son in shock, not sure if she really wanted to hear an explanation for his words.

"What do you mean with 'like Wyatt'?" She already knew that Wyatt had become evil in the future, but Chris had never really told her – and she had never asked – what exactly he had done. But judging by the way her youngest had so far talked about his time, something horrifying must have happened there; otherwise he wouldn't have taken the risk of time travelling in the first place.

"I mean, that after he became ruler of the underworld, Wyatt started terrorising humans, too." He hated to have to tell her this and broke eye contact with Piper before continuing. "And even kill them."

Although it pained her to hear these things about her son, Piper simply nodded at Chris' words. After all he had told her already once about Wyatt being a murderer, although she hadn't wanted to believe it back then.

"Keeping magic a secret never concerned him, and when the Cleaners wanted to stop him, he destroyed them. All of them in one stroke." Completely baffled, everyone present stared at the young man. They had known that Wyatt would become incredibly powerful, already was actually, but destroying the Cleaners? None of them would ever have thought him capable of that and Piper couldn't help herself, but glance down at the boy in her arms sceptically, trying to find any hint of his future power and ruthlessness in his now still completely innocent face.

Paige looked at her nephew from the future, deep in thought, before she finally asked the question that had been on her mind ever since she knew the real reason for him being here, although, just like Piper, she was afraid of the answer.

"And what about us? I mean, why didn't Piper, Phoebe and I do something to stop Wyatt?" Chris hesitated. He had wanted to give his aunt his usual reply that he couldn't give them a lot of information about the future, but suddenly realized that he couldn't tell the truth even if he had wanted to. He didn't know the answer to her question himself.

The same headache as earlier started again, as the young man tried to remember anything from his past regarding his family, but to no avail. He only shook his head before answering Paige.

"I honestly don't know. I'm sorry, but there's a real chaos in my head right now. I can remember things that… never happened and a lot of what really happened is still pretty blurry."

Piper looked at Chris guiltily while her bad conscience kept growing. Apparently her wish hadn't just erased his true identity, but also given him false memories so he wouldn't realize his loss. He had to be thinking that she had wanted to cast him out, and what had appeared to be good idea earlier, now seemed to be cowardly and cold-hearted. Why hadn't she listened to her sisters and reversed her mistake right away?

The witch sighed deeply, trying to come up with a way to help her son, but before she could think of anything, Paige stepped forward and laid her hand on Chris' shoulder comfortingly.

"Then don't try to force it. I'm sure your memories will come back completely soon." Chris simply nodded, an uncertain smile on his face, but Piper shook her head decisively and walked over to the Book of Shadows, handing Wyatt to Paige in the process.

"No. We're not going to wait that long. There's probably an almost almighty demon on the loose who wants to kill us and I don't want my son to have an identity crisis right now." Paige raised an eyebrow at that and asked in fake surprise,

"What, now all of a sudden?" Piper threw her an icy glare before she turned back to the book, without replying to her sister's question.

"And who knows, Chris might even have information from the future that could be helpful right now." Paige had to silently agree with her sister in this point, but then a thought suddenly occurred to her and she turned to her boy-friend, a questioning look on her face.

"Talking about information; how come you know that much about Zanbar? It isn't even mentioned in the Book of Shadows." Richard made a throw-away gesture before answering. After all he knew what Paige thought about the magical heritage of his family.

"Well, for generations my family has been in the possession of some very old books that mention the city. As far as I know it's been almost two thousand years since it's been buried by the desert, so I would have actually been surprised if your ancestors had written anything about it in the Book of Shadows." He hesitated shortly, but then continued. "I could bring them here if you want me to, but it would surely be best if we stop Jinny before she finds Zanbar and raises it again."

The others nodded in agreement, but Piper was the one who said out loud what all of them had been worried about.

"Of course, but what are our chances for that, now that she's got control of a genie?" Richard couldn't argue against that and so he quickly said goodbye, promising he wouldn't take long, before shimmering out, back to his home. Paige wasn't happy about him using magic, but this was an emergency and so she had nodded approvingly, right before he had vanished.

Piper skimmed through the Book of Shadows purposefully, searching for a spell to restore Chris' memories, her son watching her with a slight sense of dread in his stomach.

She had told him that she had erased his memories in the first place, because she thought he would be happier this way, so what horrible events were waiting for him in his own past? He was sure that it wouldn't be easy to learn the truth, but he just had to know. He had to know who he was, and what experiences had brought him here, even if that meant facing the fact that the evil he was fighting was his own brother.

After a while Piper seemed to have found what she was looking for, because she asked Paige to step next to her and then looked at Chris questioningly.

"Are you ready?" He simply shrugged indecisively and answered with a lopsided grin.

"No, but I guess I'll never be, so let's just get this over with." Piper nodded and she and Paige were just about to recite the spell, when the pages of the Book of Shadows were suddenly turned over by a magical blast of air. For a moment only the sound of the flipping pages filled the room, until the book finally came to a halt. The two witches in front of it looked in surprise at the open page, until the youngest of the Charmed Ones repeated its content out loud, her voice sceptical.

"It's a spell to link minds. How is that supposed to help us?" She looked at Chris, confused, but the young man, who was standing on the opposite side of the book, obviously didn't know anything more about this then she did.

Finally Piper spoke up, apparently deep in thought.

"Isn't this the spell you and Phoebe once used to get into my mind when I was being manipulated by that demon, Paige?" Paige nodded, but there was a moment of silence before Piper continued. She could think of only one reason why this particular spell had been turned open, but she wasn't sure if she was right about this. And Chris would definitely not like her conclusion.

"I guess that we're supposed to use this spell to travel into your memories when you get them back. That way we'll, too, learn what you forgot about your past." Chris stared at his mother for a few seconds, completely baffled, until he finally replied.

"Are you crazy? That's out of the question!" He raised is hands to emphasize his words and continued, clearly appalled by Piper's suggestion. "I'm sure it was for a reason that I told you so little about the future; it could have all sorts of dangerous consequences, if you find out what's going to happen." And with a resolute expression he added, "I'm not going to let you use this spell. Just restore my memories and then we can focus again on the more important problems, like uh, I don't know, an almost unstoppable demon trying to kill us all."

Paige looked at her nephew sympathetically, while she thought about their situation. She could understand all too well that he didn't want them to pry into his memories, but she had learned to trust the Book of Shadows. If it gave them such a clear hint about what to do next, she was sure that it was best to follow this lead. So far that had never been a mistake.

"Chris, I absolutely understand why you don't want this, but if the Book…" The witch interrupted herself mid-sentence, when the ground beneath her feet suddenly started shaking without warning. Glasses and vials with all sorts of ingredients fell from the shelves, and even the Book of Shadows would have tumbled to the floor, had Piper not caught it in time.

The four Halliwells got pretty jarred for a few seconds, and Wyatt started to cry in Paige's arms, but before they could even think about orbing away, everything settled down again. Piper set the book back down and took her son from his aunt's arms and tried to calm him, while she looked around sceptically.

"Was this really just an earthquake?" She asked more to herself than the others. Paige seemed to be worried for a moment, too, but then her expression lighted up again and she was ready to dismiss the event immediately.

"Of course it was. This is San Francisco, after all." She was about to say something else, when a strange sound from the door suddenly caught her attention. Chris and Piper had apparently heard it, too, because they both also turned to look at the door, only to freeze at what they saw there.

The attic door was closed and lay half in the shadows, but in its centre they could clearly make out a small glowing circle. The glowing became increasingly more intense and after a moment, small lines spread from the circle like cracks in a glass panel. It was a strangely fascinating view that captured everyone for a few seconds, so they realized the danger they were obviously in too late.

Just as Chris wanted to back away a little, the door shattered in a deafening explosion and the blast knocked all the Halliwells against the opposite wall. Wyatt hadn't raised his shield in time to protect them against the force of the explosion, but he at least cushioned their impact a little and kept them from being pierced by the shreds of wood that were shot across the attic.

As soon as Chris had recovered from the crash, he immediately checked on his family. Wyatt was still in Piper's arms. His force field was up, protecting all of them and he was looking with big eyes into the direction where the door used to be. Piper and Paige seemed to be alright, too, having landed a few feet away from Chris, and were now both getting up from the floor again.

At last, the young whitelighter followed his brother's line of sight and looked over to the source of the explosion, but wads of smoke were blocking his view. Only when he and the others were standing again, a silhouette started to become visible against the open door frame and was clearly coming towards them.

Chris froze, as he could feel the power emanating from this person, before he could even make out who it was. It was an energy that dwarfed anything else he had ever felt; not even Wyatt at the height of his power would have been able to match it. The sisters appeared to be feeling it, too, because they were obviously not planning on staying any longer to make the acquaintance of their mysterious visitor.

"Book!" Paige orbed the Book of Shadows into her arms and then reached out for Piper's shoulder to get both of them and Wyatt to safety. In Chris' direction she whispered "To Magic School" and was about to get out when an all too familiar voice sounded across the attic and echoed in her ears.

"You want to go already?" It was, without any doubt, Jinny, who had spoken these words, as was confirmed when she finally stepped out of the smoke, but this woman didn't seem to have a lot left in common with the demon they had met earlier. Let alone with the pink-clad genie that Phoebe had released.

Her voice, her posture, her aura, all that was emanating an authority that the middle class demon she had been before had thoroughly lacked. Her eyes were completely black now, like those of the source had been and she was dressed in elegant dark robes that were sporadically decorated with silver ornaments. An equally black cloak fell over her slim shoulders and completed the noble impression the new ruler of Zanbar was emitting.

Both Paige and Chris tried to orb, but soon had to realize that they wouldn't be able to, as long as Jinny wanted to prevent them from leaving. The three adult Halliwells shared worried glances until Piper took a step forward to confront their uninvited guest resolutely.

"We've already been asking ourselves if you've found Zanbar by now. I guess the answer to that is 'yes'." Jinny smiled at the boldness of the witch standing opposite from her. They both knew that one move of her hand would be enough to eradicate everything in her path, and still Piper showed no sign of fear. In a way, the demon was impressed by this, but surely not enough to spare the life of even one of those present.

"Right. And as you can see, I didn't just find the city, but I also imbibed its power. So whatever you might want to try, you don't stand a chance against me. You will all perish." She was relishing her moment of triumph visibly and let her eyes wander across all the Halliwells until she stopped at Wyatt. Her eyes were glistening dangerously as she slowly stepped closer to the little boy in Piper's arms.

"So, you're the famous son of a Charmed One. The twice-blessed child." Wyatt's force field collapsed as the demon touched it and she kept moving without being halted in her steps even the slightest. But before Piper could even try to protect her son from Jinny, it was, to everyone's surprise, Chris who stepped in front of his mother and brother and stared at the demon challengingly.

"Don't you dare to even touch him." He pressed angrily, although he knew well enough that he couldn't really do anything to stop Jinny. And yet he would not yield. After all he was here to protect his family and especially his brother and that was exactly what he was going to do now.

The demon paused in surprise as the young man planted himself in front of her and looked at him with a mixture of scepticism and arrogance.

"You know that you can't stop me, right? Do you really want to be the first to die this badly?" She looked at the whitelighter intently, then smiled knowingly. "You're half witch, aren't you? I can see that now." She pointed at her black eyes to emphasize her words, before continuing in a cold voice. "I see a lot of potential in you. Too bad that you'll never be able to exploit it."

Behind him Chris could hear the pleading voice of his mother, begging him to step aside, but that definitely wasn't what he was about to do. He would stand here and take everything the demon had in store for him. Maybe his sacrifice would at least enable the sisters and Wyatt to get away. But before he could think about it anymore, he noticed that Jinny seemed to be concentrating on him more and more, while she started to recite words in a foreign language.

At first Chris was confused about what she was doing, but then a pain suddenly erupted in his chest that made him forget everything else. Jinny's voice still wasn't louder than a small whisper, but for Chris it drowned out every other sound around him and he noticed that, although he tried to fight against it, he went down on his knees.

Filled with terror, Piper watched her son's agony and desperately tried to blow Jinny up, but the demon didn't even seem to be aware of the attack. She was concentrating on Chris completely and Paige felt how the magical hold that was preventing her from orbing became weaker. In a few moments she would be able to get out of here with her sister and Wyatt, but they couldn't leave Chris behind, under any circumstances. Panic overcame her as she tried to come up with of a solution, but she couldn't think of any way to distract Jinny even for a small moment. Her eyes fell on the Book of Shadows in her arms, but not even there could she find any hope in this situation, so the witch finally made a decision.

She raised her arm towards Piper, who was still trying to make Jinny either explode or freeze over and over again, and said quietly but clearly "Magic School". Completely shocked, Piper looked into her sister's determined eyes for a split second, before she and Wyatt vanished in a swirl of blue light.

Jinny fell silent instantly and turned away from Chris, who stood up again after a few moments, though still breathing heavily. He looked from the demon, who was standing in front of him, her face contorted with anger, to Paige, and noticed that Piper and Wyatt were gone. For a second he wondered how they had been able to get away, but he got his answer immediately.

"How were you able to orb them out of here? I prevented you from doing that." Sparks of energy started flaring from Jinny's hand, as she was getting increasingly angry, but Paige didn't let herself be intimidated by it. She just shrugged and answered in an innocent tone of voice.

"Well, maybe you're just not as powerful as you thought you were. If I were you I probably wouldn't boast so much." Jinny was practically foaming with rage now and both Paige and Chris felt as the control the demon had regained over them after stopping her attack on Chris, started to fade again. The two half-whitelighters exchanges a knowing glance as they recognised their chance to escape. Now they only had to make Jinny even angrier, without being killed in the process.

The demon seemed to be about to foil their plan, though, as she suddenly started to advance on Paige threateningly, the energy sparks flying around her hand increasing.

The young witch backed away in shock, the Book of Shadows still in her hands, and she feared that she might have overstepped the mark with her last comment. Before Jinny could get too close to her, though, Richard suddenly reappeared only a few steps away, a pile of books in his hands and stared in shock at Paige and the demon. The latter raised an eyebrow in surprise as she noticed the new arrival.

"So you're still alive." She hesitated a second, but then turned back to Paige, although her words were clearly still directed at Richard.

"Well, then you're just in time to watch your girl-friend die." With these words, she raised her arm, crossed the remaining distance between her and the witch and was about to push her energy filled hand against Paige's chest, when the young woman suddenly pulled the Book of Shadows up in front of her in a reflex. The demon's palm hit the book and there was an explosion that knocked both Paige and Jinny back. But as the witch was standing right in front of the wall, anyway, she managed to remain standing, the book still in her hand, in contrast to Jinny, who crashed to the ground.

The demon was back on her feet within a few seconds, but the others did not plan on staying any longer. Paige grabbed Richard's hand, made sure that Chris was ready to leave, too, and after he had nodded in reply, all three of them dissolved into bright light and vanished before Jinny was able to stop them.

For a few moments, the demon stood in the middle of the attic, as she realised that the witches had gotten away from her despite her new powers. But she vowed to herself that they wouldn't be able to hide for long.

Jinny lifted her arms, threw her had back and screamed her anger out, until the very foundations of the building literally started to shake. At first, only a few windows burst, but then cracks started to form in the walls and ceilings, and slowly but surely the Halliwell Manor began to collapse.

It didn't even take a minute until a pile of debris was all that remained of the Victorian estate. A few neighbours, who had looked out of their windows or had come outside, thought they had seen a woman hovering mid-air above the destroyed house for a few seconds, but as that was completely impossible, hardly anyone mentioned it to the police as they investigated to apparent gas explosion.

To be continued


	16. The Book of Shadows

**Chapter 16: The Book of Shadows**

Usually there were always several students inside the library of Magic School, doing research for class or simply reading, but today they all steered clear of it, as the headmaster was pacing up and down the large room, venting his bad mood at anyone who was foolish enough to cross his path. Gideon was waiting for a message from Barbas or a sign of the Charmed Ones to find out if his plan had been successful and what exactly had transpired in the Halliwell manor.

Was Wyatt already dead? Had Chris murdered his own brother, maybe even finding his own death in the process? Or had the demon of fear failed and possibly even told the sisters about the person he'd gotten his orders from?

All these questions were slowly driving the Elder to desperation, but he couldn't do anything but keep waiting for any news impatiently.

It seemed like forever until all of a sudden a swirl of blue lights floated into the room and manifested into Piper Halliwell. She had her back turned to him, but Gideon easily recognized her and couldn't wait to find out why exactly she had come here. Trying hard to appear genuinely concerned, he called the witch, who didn't seem to have noticed his presence yet.

"Piper, is everything alright? Is there anything I can do for you?" The headmaster of Magic School had to muster up all of his self-control, not to show his shock when the oldest of the Charmed Ones turned around to him and he finally noticed Wyatt in her arms. His plan had obviously failed, but that didn't explain why Piper had now appeared here without her sisters.

x x x

Piper Halliwell had felt like paralyzed when her sister had suddenly decided to orb her and Wyatt to Magic School and to safety without her agreement. That's why she was momentarily frozen when she found herself and her little son in the all too familiar library, right after she had just been forced to witness how Chris was about to sacrifice himself for his brother. She had tried everything to help him, but Jinny had been to strong for her powers to have any effect on her.

The witch was startled when she suddenly heard a concerned voice behind her, causing her to turn around instantly. Gideon stood there, looking at her and Wyatt with an expression Piper found herself unable to read. But she didn't really pay much attention to it, as there was only one concern on her mind right now.

"You have to send me back!" Surprised by Piper's anxious demand, without any explanation, the Elder just stared at the witch for a moment, not even completely sure where he was supposed to send her back to, when Piper suddenly shoved Wyatt into his arms and took a step back. She was gesticulating wildly with her arms, an almost pleading look in her eyes.

"Please, or else my son is going to die!" Completely desperate, Piper ran her hands across her face as she tried to suppress the tears that were threatening to emerge. Normally no enemy, no matter how powerful, could cause her to panic, but right now she just didn't know what was left for her to do. Chris might even be dead already…

"Orb me back home into the attic. I've got to try and stop Jinny or she's going to kill Chris!" Gideon, who had finally managed to regain his composure, now tried to calm the agitated witch down. He just had to know what had happened in the Halliwell Manor and why his plan had apparently failed.

"Piper, please calm down. Tell me what happened and how you got here, then I'm surely going to be able to help you." And with a short glance at the child on his arm, he added, "Did Wyatt orb you both here to safety?" Piper rolled her eyes impatiently before answering the Elder.

"No, that was Paige. She seems to have forgotten which one of us is the oldest and obviously thought she had to protect me." The witch took a deep breath to calm herself a little and then continued decisively. "But I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much, and as Wyatt is now safe here with you, there's no reason not so send me back _right now_. Maybe it's not too late yet." She finished hopefully.

Gideon looked at the witch indecisively for a moment. Whoever this Jinny was, she had to be a very powerful enemy or Paige would never have found it necessary to orb her sister and her nephew out of the house.

Maybe it was better if he just trusted in the judgement of the young half whitelighter and not agreed to Piper's demand; after all it would be much easier for Paige to get away by herself if she didn't have to look out for her sister as well. She was probably just trying to help Chris before fleeing from the manor and if his situation was really as desperate as Piper's behaviour had led him to believe, Gideon would soon have one problem less to worry about.

On the other hand he would most definitely expose himself to the furious' witch's anger, should he refuse to orb her back to the attic. But he couldn't risk putting Piper and thereby maybe Paige, too, in any additional danger, so the witch would have to accept that he was only acting in her best interest.

"Piper, I'm not sure if this is really such a good. Your unexpected return might just make matters worse for your sister and Chris. I know, you…" But Piper was too riled up to let the Elder finish.

"You don't know anything! This is about my family. I have to help them, I…" But the witch stopped abruptly as she suddenly heard the familiar sound of orbing right behind her.

Her breath caught in her throat and for a split second she didn't dare to turn around, afraid that only Paige would be standing there. But then she did it anyway and without her realising it, tears started to run down Piper's cheeks as she found her son standing a few feet away from Paige and Richard.

He was obviously still a little shaken from Jinny's attack and had an arm wrapped around his body protectively, but he was standing steadily and had apparently made it here on his own, so he had to be relatively fine. The witch hurried over to Chris and hugged him, relieved, but backed off again immediately as she noticed him flinch under her touch.

"Are you alright? Have you been hurt?" Piper had taken a step back and looked over her son with a worried expression. Her eyes wandered over his upper body, searching for injuries, but Jinny's spell clearly hadn't left any visible marks, as she couldn't even find a single scratch on him.

"It's still hurting a little, but I'll be fine." Chris carefully pressed a hand against his chest and grimaced slightly in pain as he felt the lingering effect of Jinny's attack. But when he noticed the concern in Piper's eyes, he lowered his hand again and tried his best not to show his discomfort.

"You don't need to worry, I'm okay." But Piper didn't let herself be fooled that easily.

"Nonsense! Paige will take a look at this, after all Jinny almost killed you back in the manor." She hesitated suddenly and turned to her sister with a questioning look on her face. "Now that we're talking about it; how did you even manage to get out of there?"

"Well, ehm…" The younger witch grinned sheepishly before lifting up the Book of Shadows that she was still carrying, so that Piper could get a better look at it.

"Let's just say, not without casualties."

"Oh my god." The oldest of the Charmed Ones froze as she realized the state their most precious possession was in. The front cover and the first pages were almost completely destroyed and the rest of the book was showing such severe burn marks that it almost seemed like a miracle that it hadn't fallen apart yet. Only the triquetra on the cover was still undamaged and Piper even had the impression that its colour was more intensive than ever.

x x x

"If this demon is indeed in the possession of Zanbar's power now, we are having a very serious problem." Gideon had started pacing in the library again, but this time he was thinking about what he had just learned from the Halliwells and Paige's boyfriend. At first the two half whitelighters had told them how they had managed to get away from the demon.

It was good to know they their enemy was not yet in full control of her enormous new powers, but in another encounter they would not be able to rely on that. And she was also still in possession of Phoebe's bottle, so that, on top of her controlling a genie, the Power of Three was incomplete at the moment.

"But the book stopped her. Doesn't that mean that she isn't really as powerful as we had feared she would be?", Paige asked, causing the headmaster of Magic School to actually roll his eyes and become uncharacteristically irascible as he answered the witch.

"Tell me, have you been able to harm her in any way? No?" He looked at everyone gathered around, but the others were too surprised by his reaction to reply anything. "The Book of Shadows does not only contain the Power of Three, but it's under the protection of generations of Halliwells. And _that _is what it looks like after Jinny touched it for merely a split second." He pointed at the charred remains of what had not long ago been the best protect family heirloom of the sisters. "No, I think the assessment that she will be almost unstoppable was indeed the correct one."

Richard had never met the Elder so far, but even he had the impression that Gideon was reacting far too harshly to Paige's question and he noticed how the sisters and Chris exchanged surprised glances. And it really was more than unusual for the normally very level-headed headmaster of Magic School to get this agitated, but it also wasn't exactly an every-day occurrence for him to get this many bad news at once.

The sisters and Chris had told him about their encounter with Barbas and his plan and how Wyatt had been able to vanquish him in the end. This way Gideon had lost an important ally in his effort to eliminate the threat Piper's sons were posing once and for all. The only good thing that had come out of this was that Barbas had obviously not been able to reveal who had sent him prior to his death. Otherwise Gideon would certainly not be standing here anymore.

They had also informed him about all the other important occurrences since his last visit to the manor. Discovering Chris' true identity, Phoebe turning into a genie, Piper's unfortunate wish, Paige's new ability and finally the almost fatal attack of the most recent aspirant to the throne of the underworld.

So the demon Jinny had actually succeeded in raising the lost city Zanbar from the depths of the desert. And even though Paige's boyfriend Richard seemed to have informed the witches about the enormity of this event, they obviously hadn't grasped the gravity of their situation yet.

The Elder took a deep breath and decided to put his plans for Wyatt to rest for the moment. It was the most important thing to stop this demon now, because otherwise any goodness in this world wouldn't even have a future Piper's sons could endanger. But they definitely wouldn't be able to solve this problem on their own.

"By recovering Zanbar, Jinny might have reopened one of the darkest chapters in the history of magic. It is therefore absolutely vital that the council of Elders gets informed about this incident as soon as possible."

He stopped shortly and looked at the small group in front of him. They were sitting at a table in the library, Piper with Wyatt in her lap beside Chris, Paige and Richard on the other side and between them the remains of the Book of Shadows. All of them, even the little Wyatt, were clearly exhausted after the strain of the past hours, but the danger was far from being over.

"Someone of you should come with me, though, as you have already witnessed her powers." Gideon looked at the sisters expectantly, who decided through a quick glance which one of them should accompany the Elder. Paige's encounter with Jinny might have been a little longer, but she could clearly see Piper's longing in her eyes to see her husband again at this opportunity. So she decided to remain with her two nephews and Richard here in Magic School.

"You go, Piper. And who know, maybe those guys 'up there' might actually come up with something to help us for a change." Giving the present Elder an apologetic look, she added, "No offence, Gideon."

He simply nodded impatiently and then quickly turned to Piper.

"None taken, Paige. Are you ready to go then, Piper? We have no time to waste."

"Yes, alright." But before the witch got up from her seat, she turned around to Chris to hand Wyatt to him, but realized in surprise that the young man was avoiding her eyes.

"What's wrong, Chris?" It took him a few seconds to answer this question, all the while still making sure not to look directly at Piper.

"Are you going to tell him?" And at Piper's confused expression, he added, "Leo, I mean."

Piper hesitated. When she had found out that Chris was her son, she hadn't expected to see Leo again any time soon. And even though she thought that he had a right to know, she hadn't wanted to endanger him by calling him down to her. But now she would be standing in front of him again and she wasn't sure if she would be able to keep the truth from him even if she wanted to. Not after what had transpired between them yesterday.

"Would you rather not want me to?" Chris raised his eyebrows, obviously surprised that his mother would even ask something that obvious.

"Of course not! I can't even remember him as my father at the moment. Just give me some time to get used to this whole… family-thing. I really can't deal with Leo right now." Piper looked at her son for a moment thoughtfully, but finally nodded, although rather reluctantly.

"Alright." Then she stood up and moved to Gideon's side. "I'll see you later." With that she and the Elder dissolved into a swirl of white-blue lights and orbed away.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Paige walked slowly along the corridors of Magic School, from the kindergarten where she had just dropped off Wyatt back to the library where Richard and Chris were trying to find further information on Zanbar with Sigmund's help. Or at least she had thought that her nephew was there, too, but was now proven wrong as he suddenly stepped out of an adjacent corridor.

The young whitelighter appeared to be somewhat glum, but also determined as he stopped a few feet in front of his aunt and addressed her.

"Paige, I wanted to ask you for a favour." The issue seemed to be very important to him and he waited until the witch nodded in agreement.

"Of course, go ahead." Chris hesitated shortly and looked down the corridor as if to make sure that nobody was listening in on them.

"I want you to cast the spell to restore my memories before mum comes back. I have no idea what's awaiting me, so I'd rather not have her there." He grinned sheepishly before continuing. "I could probably do it on my own, but after what happened the last time…" Paige raised an eyebrow and nodded once more as she remembered how they had just restored Chris' eyesight this morning. She almost couldn't believe that so much had happened since then.

"Alright, I'll help you."

x x x

Paige was standing in front of the Book of Shadows and flipped through the pages carefully, constantly trying to avoid causing any further damage. She and Chris had retreated into an empty classroom to cast the memory spell here. The young man was pacing in front of the desk where the book was lying, repeatedly glancing at his aunt, clearly on edge.

"Chris, calm down. Walking a pit into the floor isn't going to speed anything up; you're just driving me crazy with it." Completely absorbed by the book again, she added to herself, "You've clearly picked that up from your father", causing Chris to stop his movement immediately and stare at the witch in surprise.

"What?" Paige looked up and moved her finger through the air, following the way Chris had been walking for the past minutes.

"Well, this pacing up and down. Leo does that, too, when he's nervous and he's always driving Piper insane with it." Although he didn't even know why, Chris had to smile at the thought of having inherited this and probably other traits from his father. He had already regained several memories of Piper and the sisters, but he still couldn't remember Leo from the future at all and he was glad about everything that connected him to the Elder.

By now the young man couldn't wait to finally remember everything from his past again. Surely not everything in his life had been positive, or he wouldn't have come here in the first place to safe the future, but the thought of having a real family had erased all of his doubts. And so he was more than relieved when Paige finally found the right spell.

"Alright, this is it." She announced happily. She looked into her nephew's eyes once more and was ready to start, but just as during their last try on the attic, the pages of the book were suddenly turned by an invisible force until the spell to link minds appeared. Chris rolled his eyes exasperatedly while Paige grinned at him awkwardly.

"Oh no, you can forget about that. Turn back to the spell we need and let's not waste our time with this nonsense!"

"But the book seems to, well… insist on it." Paige could understand his aversion all too well, but when they were getting such a clear hint…

"Then just hold on to the page. It's still just a book!" This statement earned him a shocked look from his aunt and a playful smack on the arm.

"Chris! You know as well as I do that this is more than just a book. It _does_ possess certain magical powers and if it says that we should use this spell now, I guess it's best if we just trust in that." The witch glared at her nephew, as if she could change his mind just by looking at him.

Chris had turned away from her and ran a hand over his eyes as he thought about his options. There was no way he wanted to allow Paige to get into his mind, but he silently had to agree with her. The Book of Shadows had been in their family for generations, serving as a source of knowledge and advisor, and even though he couldn't really remember most of his own experiences with it, he had the strong feeling that he could trust it absolutely. He sighed deeply as he had finally made his decision.

"Okay, fine." He shrugged in defeat and motioned for Paige to continue.

"Maybe you should better sit down, you might lose consciousness." The witch advised. Chris nodded and pulled a chair in front of the desk, letting himself fall onto it.

Paige browsed through the book again, searching for the memory spell once more while holding the mind link spell open with her other hand.

"Okay, I'm going to cast both spells right after each other. Are you ready?" Chris nodded impatiently and motioned for his aunt to hurry up.

"Just do it, before I change my mind." He took a deep breath and tried to get into a comfortable position on the chair, as Paige already started the memory spell.

"Okay.

Let the truth be told,

let Chris' life unfold.

So that he can relive his memories,

and face all his enemies."

The witch could see how Chris' forehead started to glow for a moment until the young man slumped further into his chair, unconscious. Now she felt very relieved that she had reminded him to sit down.

Then she straightened herself and opened the second page, starting immediately to read the mind link spell that would hopefully send her right into Chris' memories as well.

"Life to Life and Mind to Mind

Our spirits now will intertwine

We meld our souls

And journey to

The one whose thoughts

I wish I knew."

Paige's entire body began to glow and after a few seconds the young woman dissolved into a swirl of energy that made its way right into Chris' head.

To be continued


	17. The Things That Shape Us part 1

**A/N: The spells I used in the last chapter were taken from the forth and fifth season of Charmed, though slightly changed to fit in the context of this fanfiction. Their effects might also vary a little.**

**x**

**Chapter 17: The Things That Shape Us (part 1)**

When Paige had manifested again, she realized in surprise that she was now in the Halliwell Manor in Phoebe's room. But the furniture was different and even in the damped light she could see that the figure lying in the bed definitely wasn't her sister.

A dark haired boy of maybe eight or nine years was sleeping uneasily under his at least two blankets and Paige could tell even in the semi-darkness they were in that he wasn't feeling very well. She was just about to go over to him, when a voice behind her was making her halt.

"Don't worry, it's just the flu. I'm gonna be better in a few days."

Paige hadn't yet noticed Chris, who was standing in one of the dark corners of the room, and now turned around to him completely startled.

"Chris!" She needed a moment to recover from the shock, but then pointed at the boy in the bed behind her to confirm the obvious.

"So that is you?" Her nephew simply nodded in reply.

"But why are we here? I mean, it doesn't look as if we're going to relive all of your memories, right? So I guess something important is going to happen here, isn't it?" Paige looked at Chris questioningly, but the young man kept avoiding her eyes.

"Well, I wouldn't call it important…" He might have wanted to say something else, but was interrupted as the door was quietly opened and Piper entered the room.

She was several years older, but still the same caring mother as which Paige had already come to know her with Wyatt. She was carrying a tray with a steaming bowl of soup, a glass of water, juice and a wet cloth on it. After putting down the tray on the night stand, she switched on the bedside lamp and used the cloth to wipe her son's forehead lovingly.

"Mum… what time is it?" The little boy looked up to his mother sleepily, who had set down beside him, while sitting up slowly. Piper ran a hand across his head caringly and gave him a kiss on his hair before answering his question.

"It's almost three. Why do you ask?" The boy stared at her in shock before he, to Piper's big surprise, suddenly tried to climb past her out of his bed. But the witch managed to hold her son back, and looked at him questioningly.

"Would you please tell me where exactly you want to go all of a sudden?" Chris tried to shake her off, but in the end had to realize that it would be faster to simply answer his mother's question.

"Dad promised to go to the zoo today with Wyatt and me." And before Piper had the chance to reply anything, he added hastily,

"I'm feeling all better already. Really! Can I go? Please?"

Paige could see how her sister looked to the ground sadly, before she reached for something on the tray she had brought. It was a white envelope that the witch kept in her hands indecisively for a few seconds, but then gave to her son witch a sad smile.

"Your dad was here earlier while you were still asleep. I know you were looking forward to seeing him, but Wyatt was very eager to go, and…" Paige realized how hard Piper was fighting to keep her composure and even avoided looking into her son's eyes.

But she herself could see all too clearly how devastated he was by this news. But when she turned around to the adult whitelighter behind her, she couldn't find even the faintest trace of emotions in his face. His expression was completely cold as he looked at the situation before them. But as Piper continued talking now, Paige turned around to look at her again.

"Leo left this for you." Chris took the envelope and kept his eyes fixed on it steadily, as Piper stood up, reminded him of the soup she'd brought, and quietly left the room.

As his mother before, Chris held the letter in his hands for a few moments, while apparently contemplating if he should even open it at all. In the end he did, though, and pulled the contained sheet of paper out.

The boy read the lines written on it carefully and only after what seemed like an eternity, he put the still unfolded paper back on the night stand. For a split second Paige could see that he had tears in his eyes, but then he quickly laid down and pulled the blanket up over his head.

The witch hesitated shortly and threw a questioning glance across her shoulder at her adult nephew, but he still showed no reaction. So she went over to the bed and wanted to take the letter from the night stand, but had to realize that her hand went right through the paper. Obviously she wasn't able to touch anything here, as all of this was merely a memory. But as the bedside lamp was still on, and the letter hadn't been folded again, Paige didn't have any trouble deciphering Leo's handwriting.

_I am sorry, that you couldn't come with us, but Wyatt had been looking forward to going to the zoo so much that I didn't want to disappoint him. I'm sure you can understand._

_I'll see you next time._

_Dad_

Speechless, Paige stared down at the paper in front of her, as several unfriendly expressions crossed her mind that she would have liked to say to Leo right now. How could he take Wyatt to the zoo while Chris was in bed, sick, and then even leave his youngest with nothing but this pathetic excuse for a letter. She hoped that Piper had at least kicked his ass for that.

The witch was still rooted to the spot, when her nephew's voice suddenly came from behind her again. He sounded just as emotionless as his face had been in the last few minutes.

"That was only the first of many letters that Leo left for me over the years, explaining why he didn't have time or couldn't take me along. It was just strange that Wyatt never got one. For him Leo was always there in person, no matter what."

Paige turned around to look at Chris, clearly upset, and tried to find the right words to cheer the young man up. Ultimately, she managed at least a weak smile.

"At least I'm not surprised anymore that you banished him to Valhalla." The young whitelighter looked at his aunt in surprise.

"You knew?" Paige shrugged indecisively.

"Let's say, I suspected it."

Chris wanted to reply something more, when there was suddenly a bright flash of light that made him close his eyes in pain. The brightness only lasted for a couple of seconds, but when he and Paige could see their surroundings again, they weren't in Chris' room anymore, but outside, only a small distance from the entrance of the manor and both of their counterparts standing right in front of it.

The Chris from this memory was older, a teenager now, and Paige, who was standing beside him, had become noticeable more mature, too, but she withstood the critical gaze of her younger self.

"How old are you here, Chris, fifteen? I don't think I look sixteen years older. Maybe eight. Or nine."

"Fourteen."

"What?" Paige had turned to her nephew incredulously, but he lifted his hands in an apologetic gesture.

"I meant myself. I'm fourteen, not fifteen." He looked down to the ground, clearly affected by what they were seeing, before continuing.

"In fact, today's my…" He didn't get to finish his sentence, though, as the Paige from his memory suddenly interrupted him. She had turned to face her nephew, who reached almost up to her height, despite his young age.

"Please promise me to act surprised. Your mother is going to kill me if she finds out that I ruined her surprise party." The boy laughed, but then put a hand over his heart in solemn gesture and looked at his aunt earnestly.

"I promise faithfully that I won't say a word. Mum always makes such an effort for our birthday parties, so I don't want to ruin it for her. But are you sure that we aren't a little too early?" He asked with a glance at his watch. Paige looked at the time as well, but then shook her head thoughtfully.

"No, I think she should be done here as well as in the P3 by now, so we can go in."

"The P3? So are we going to celebrate there tonight?" Paige stared at her nephew with wide eyes, then hit herself against the forehead.

"I should really learn to keep my mouth shut. I'm acting almost as badly as Phoebe now." Fixating Chris with a conspiratorial look, she continued. "You don't know anything about that, either, got it? And now let's go inside before I tell you about all of your presents, as well."

She and Chris then went into the house and the younger Paige wanted to follow them, but had to realize that 'her' nephew was stone still and appeared to be completely thunderstruck. She looked at him in confusion and noticed that his expression now was the complete opposite to his prior emotionless state.

A lot of different emotions were visible in his face, but the strongest one was something like panic as he stared past Paige at the now closing front door.

"We can't go in there!" And after a short pause he emphasized, "_I_ can't go in there!" Paige looked into the eyes of her nephew sympathetically and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Chris, what is wrong? What's going to happen in there?" But the young man avoided her eyes and stared at the ground instead. He simply couldn't say it out loud. Couldn't tell her what kind of terrible fate was waiting for his family today. And everything just because they had assembled to celebrate his birthday.

But Paige wouldn't let it go.

"Chris, these are _your _memories. I'm not sure we can even stay outside." And as if to confirm her words, the world was filled with a bright white light once more, but this time only for a slit second, and when it was gone they were suddenly standing in a corner of the living room.

A large banner reading 'Happy Birthday' was hanging across the ceiling, colourful balloons were everywhere and to top it all, there was even a two-story birthday cake on the table that had surely taken Piper hours to make.

The proud mother had just finished hugging her son and stepped aside to make room for the other relatives to do the same, and Paige realized in bewilderment that the adult Chris was having tears coming to his eyes. Judging by his reaction, something terrible was about to occur, but still, she couldn't help herself but watch the assembled people in amazement.

The man her older self was just walking over to and whom she kissed lovingly was without a doubt Richard and she also noticed that two of the children present were showing a clear resemblance to both of them. Paige smiled happily, glad that it had been the right decision to give their love another chance.

Paige's eyes wandered further to the other guests and she was willing to take any bet that the remaining four children, all girls, belonged to Phoebe and the handsome man by her side. Even though she had never seen her future brother-in-law, his friendly demeanour and the loving expression with which he looked at Phoebe, immediately convinced the witch that her sister had indeed found the right man.

"Who is that?" She asked, still completely caught up in the scene in front of her.

"Uncle Coop." Just like his aunt, Chris was watched what was transpiring in the room, but in contrast to her, he wasn't feeling any form of fascination, but a devastating sadness over the loss his family had suffered and panic of being forced to witness it once more. But as he noticed how happily Paige was watching the next generation of witches, he made a decision and grabbed his aunt's arm.

"You should get out of here." She returned his gaze in confusion.

"What? Why?" But Chris preferred to ignore her request for an explanation.

"You have to concentrate on returning to the real world. I don't want you to see this." The young woman scrutinised her nephew closely, realising immediately how much this situation was really getting to him. So of course it was completely out of the question for her to leave him now.

"Chris, no matter what is going to happen now, I can face it. But I don't want you to have to go through it alone, so I'm staying. No discussion!"

Chris rolled his eyes, annoyed, but he really should have known better; all Halliwells were incredibly hard-headed after all. But before he could reply anything to Paige, there was a painful twinge in his heart as he suddenly heard the cheerful voice of his mother.

"And now it's time for the presents!" Piper had carried a large box wrapped with a ribbon from the other room and now walked towards her son with it, smiling happily. But before she was able to give it to him, a dark figure suddenly appeared behind her.

The young Chris and rest of the family present saw him right away, but before even one of them managed to react, the demon had already raised his sword and stabbed the unprepared witch from behind.

Nothing but a surprised gasp escaped her throat while she kept staring at her son unwaveringly, who returned her gaze, petrified, even when all hell broke loose only a second later.

Demons appeared everywhere and as the birthday party began to turn into a bloodbath, Paige could finally understand her nephew's panic all too well. As soon as the first demon had appeared, she had reached out for Chris' arm and now her grip was getting tenser with each passing moment, but the young man didn't even seem to feel the pain.

Blood was dripping from the tip of the blade sticking out of Piper's chest and only when it was ripped out of her body with a forceful pull, the witch's grip loosened and the present fell from her hands to the ground, making a shattering sound. Her eyes followed the box and she whispered sadly "Oh no!" before she went to the ground as well.

Chris Halliwell, who had just turned fourteen years old, fell on his knees in front of his lifeless mother, completely oblivious to what was happening in the rest of the house. He neither saw how Richard pushed his wife aside, just to be killed himself by a fireball thrown at him, nor did he notice how Phoebe shoved her two youngest daughters, who had been standing beside her, into the arms of their father and demanded him to get out with them.

Coop saw the desperately pleading look in her eyes and finally nodded although it was more than evident that he didn't want to leave her side.

After Phoebe knew that they would be safe, she wanted to rescue the rest of her family, too, but when she turned around she was, to her complete horror, immediately faced with the sight of her oldest daughter's dead body lying at the feet of one of the demons.

"No!" Her scream drowned out the noise of the fighting for a moment, but when Paige's son turned around to his aunt involuntarily, he paid this moment of abstraction with his life. He fell beside his sister, who was just drawing her last breaths, but still managed to take a hold of his hand, before her heart ultimately stopped beating.

Beside herself with rage, Paige vanquished several of the demons, but one of them managed to strike her with his blade before his own death, and even though the witch tried to fight the pain, she went to the ground a few moments later.

Only Phoebe and her second oldest daughter were still standing, but before they could do anything else, one of the demons had grabbed the girl around the throat and snapped her neck with a single movement.

Phoebe stood paralyzed, shocked, and didn't even try to move out of the way as she saw her enemy creating a fireball which he then threw at. She felt the heat and the force of the impact, but she was dead before she even hit the ground.

Finally only Chris remained. All this time her had been kneeling beside his mother and had been staring into her dead eyes and just like his aunt a moment ago, he didn't care at all about his own survival.

The leader of the demons, the one who had killed Piper, stepped towards him triumphantly, but stopped as he realized that the boy wasn't paying any attention to him. He kicked angrily at Chris and then raised his sword for the final blow when the boy looked up at him at last. But before the blade could hit its target, the boy suddenly dissolved into hundreds of gleaming lights that vanished through the ceiling.

Paige, who had tears streaming down her cheeks freely, suddenly felt as if she was orbing, too, but before she disappeared, she caught a glance of her injured counterpart who was reaching an arm towards her nephew and managed to orb him to safely with her remaining strength.

x x x

When Paige had a good view at her surroundings again, she realized with surprise that they were now in Magic School. She hadn't seen this particular room so far, but the design was unmistakable.

A high arching ceiling stretched out above an octagonal hall with wooden benches rising up at the walls like in a lecture hall. Spaciously allocated there were about a dozen people sitting there now, most of them easily recognizable as teachers of the school thanks to their dark clothes. But somewhere between them Leo had just sprung up from his seat, dressed in the usual white-golden robes of an elder, as his youngest son had suddenly appeared in the centre of the room. A tall blond boy was standing beside him and eyed his appearance critically.

"What is this?" Paige asked in a tear-constricted voice, as she slightly loosened the grip on Chris' arm.

"This is the hall for practical exams in Magic School. And that," he pointed at the boy beside his younger self, "is Wyatt. He had been here to take a test and Leo had come to support him."

He broke off, too shaken by what they had just witnessed, as Leo was already rushing down the stairs towards his sons. He was still running when he asked:

"Is that blood on your clothes? What happened?" But Chris was too shocked to answer immediately. Impatiently Wyatt grabbed his arm rudely.

"Tell us, what's going on?" Trembling all over, Chris returned his brother's gaze and forced himself to speak.

"Mum… Aunt Phoebe, Aunt Paige… they're all…" Both Wyatt and Leo got a terrible foreboding of what had happened, so they didn't ask for many details, as any second might count.

"Where?" Was the only other question Leo asked.

"Home." Wyatt let go of his brother and looked at his father with a silent prompt. He simply nodded and without even another glance at Chris they both orbed towards the Halliwell Manor.

The teachers and the few other parents that were present had also risen from their seats by now and stared down at the dark haired boy, who was still kneeling in the centre of the floor mosaic, his head down and silent tears dripping from his cheeks.

To be continued


	18. The Things That Shape Us part 2

**A/N: Prue and Patricia are Phoebe's and Coop's oldest daughters who didn't survive the last chapter. I don't think her children were given any names in the show's finale, but I could imagine Phoebe calling them that. **

**x**

**Chapter 18: The Things That Shape Us (part 2)**

Seconds stretched out like an eternity as the large hall was filled with horrified silence. Only when one of the teachers, an older witch, ran down the stairs to the crying boy, the others present came out of their stupor, too. Including the two more or less involuntary observers who had just been forces to witness the obliteration of half of their family.

Paige had become even paler than usual, as far as that was possible, and was looking from one Chris to the other, her face tear-stained.

By now the teacher had knelt down on the floor beside the boy and did her best to calm him, but he flinched back as she tried to embrace him. She looked at him with pity for a moment before turning to the other teachers, giving them instructions to tell the students that there would be no more exams for the time being. All this time she stayed next to Chris on the ground and gently began to stroke across his back to calm him down somewhat. He allowed her touch, but kept his face averted so his expression was hidden. But after some time his trembling subsided slightly.

At the same time Paige was looking up to her adult nephew, after having collected herself a little, searching for anything to say in this situation. After a moment she shrugged, resigning, her voice still constricted with tears when she spoke.

"How could you ever get through this?" Chris thought about his answer for a long moment while watching his younger self and the terrible condition he had been in.

"At first I just wished I was dead, too." He broke off, but then continued to speak after a short pause, his voice betraying his shaken condition. "But with time and Grandpa's help… life just somehow went on."

Paige seemed to be waiting for something more, but when Chris didn't have anything else to add, she asked expectantly,

"And your dad? And Wyatt?" Chris' lips hardened to a thin line before he answered his aunt.

"As you've already seen, Leo and I weren't exactly close before, but now, after mum's death our relationship became icy. Well, and Wyatt…," but before he could finish the sentence, he was interrupted as angry voices could suddenly be heard from the corridor outside and a moment later the heavy oak doors were pushed open.

"I don't care if exams are being held now or not. I have to talk to Leo and Wyatt." A rather small witch, who had obviously not yet heard about what had happened, tried vehemently to stop the relentless intruder, but couldn't prevent him from storming into the exam hall.

"Uncle Coop?" The man instantly froze on the spot as he heard Chris' disbelieving voice and noticed the boy in the centre of the room. Prepared for the worst, he shoved the witch who had been trying to stop him to the side and walked towards his nephew.

"Chris, what…?" But he couldn't get any further, as the boy wrapped his arms around him in this moment and started to weep bitterly.

The cupid hesitated a second, the fear about his wife and his two daughters who had remained in the Halliwell Manor written clearly across his face, but then he returned his nephew's embrace anyway, as he felt how desperate the boy was.

They remained like this for a few seconds, the young whitelighter clinging to his uncle almost for dear life, until he finally broke his silence and began to talk, still in tears.

"I am so sorry. I should have done something. This wasn't supposed to happen, I… I just let them all die… I killed them!" Chris leaned more and more heavily against his uncle's chest until Coop suddenly pushed him away a little, so he could look into Chris' eyes, unmasked fear written across his face.

"Chris, what happened? Where are Phoebe and Prue and Patricia?" It was all too clear how much he wanted his nephew to tell him that they had made it, that they were save, but deep inside Coop certainly knew that he wasn't going to be that lucky.

Chris couldn't bear the desperate look in his uncle's eyes any longer, but he couldn't bring himself to avert his gaze, either, so he closer his eyes before answering silently.

"They are dead. Except from me, only Aunt Paige was still alive, but she was badly injured when she orbed me here. And for that the demons have surely killed her, just like the others. Like mum."

Tears were still running down the boy's face as he was now looking at his uncle again, begging him with his eyes for forgiveness.

But Coop had stepped back from his nephew at the news of his wife's and daughters' death and had turned away, trying futilely to somehow process everything that had transpired.

"It all happened so fast and I… I was like paralysed. All I could see was mum. I am so sorry. It was my fault, it was all my fault." At these last words, Chris fell back onto his knees, but before he could revert back to his previous state of shock, Coop was in front of him on the ground, looking intensely at him.

"Chris, don't say that! Everyone reacts differently in such a situation and you were in shock after what… what this demon did to Piper. You're not to blame, this isn't your fault. Understood?" The young whitelighter returned his gaze rather reluctantly, but nodded in the end, causing his uncle to hug him tightly once more.

Paige and Chris, who had been watching the events in front of them the entire time, were still standing in the back of the room and had been completely quiet the last couple of minutes, had barely dared to breathe, even though they knew that nobody was aware of them, anyway. Now the silence between them was suddenly broken when Paige snuffled loudly. Sympathetically, but also with a new sense of admiration, she looked up at her grown-up nephew once more while trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I don't know if I would have been able to come back."

"But I didn't actually know what was waiting for me in my memories," Chris replied, but Paige shook her head before rephrasing her earlier statement.

"No, I mean back to us, to our time. You had to know that your mission could take longer and you would probably have to spend a lot of time with us. You even became our whitelighter and all but lived with us, your family, without us knowing who you were and that after everything you went through. I couldn't have done that." And even though the witch had just been fighting off her tears successfully, they now started to run down her cheeks again freely.

Chris thought hard about what he was going to answer his aunt to this, but had to realise that all his memories that lay in the future from this point out were still very hazy. But he was completely certain about one thing.

"It was worth it. I would do anything that's necessary to protect Wyatt from turning evil. And in addition to that," and now he was smiling, even though he still had tears in his eyes, "coming back meant that I could at least be with you all once more. And we'll be able to say goodbye when I go back to my time."

Paige nodded understandingly. After the sudden death of her parents she would have done anything to be able to say goodbye to them, but she had never had the chance. It had to be at least a small consolation for Chris to be able to make his farewell from his family in the past now.

The whitelighter looked over to his younger self once more before a bright white light blinded him and Paige again. It only took a few seconds until they found themselves in a new location, but at first Chris wasn't sure about what would await them here.

They were in the middle of a tunnel which was weakly illuminated by some torches, its stone walls continuing in both directions absolutely monotonously. The young man was still trying to think of when he'd been here before when suddenly Chris and Wyatt from this time materialised in front of them. The two brothers were still the same age as they had been before; only a few months could have passed since the last events they had witnessed, and in that moment Chris remembered all too vividly what was about to happen. He took a deep breath and looked over to his aunt, clearly shaken.

"I want you to go now, Paige. You've already learned way too much about the future as it is and there are things you should better not see." The witch looked at Chris sceptically, but then turned to face her two younger nephews again, before answering him.

"Can you force me to go back to Magic School?" The whitelighter thought about this briefly, but then shook his head.

"No, I don't think so." Out of the corner of her eye, Paige looked at his triumphantly, then continued resolutely.

"Then forget it! You've been carrying these horrible memories for far too long now and no matter what else is still going to happen," she took his hand at this and held it tightly, "you're not alone in this anymore."

Despite the terrible circumstances they were under at the moment, Chris couldn't help himself but smile at his aunt's words. He had been living with his loss for years now while she had only just learned about their family's early death, and yet she was still able to console him in this situation. He was unimaginable grateful to her for this.

At this moment his younger self suddenly attracted his attention again, as he began to speak after looking around the tunnel carefully.

"Are you sure we're going to find her here? After all we've already turned half the underworld upside down, searching for her." The fourteen year old Chris looked up at his brother indecisively, the latter having his eyes closed, obviously concentrating on something. He remained unmoving for a few seconds until he finally answered.

"Yes, I'm certain. Most of the demons are in a huge cave this way," he pointed towards his right, down the gloomy tunnel, "and Aunt Paige is in that direction." This time he pointed the opposite way.

The young woman whose name had just been mentioned drew a startled breath as she looked up at her nephew in shock.

"So I'm still alive? I thought I had been killed during the attack on the house?" But before Chris could reply anything he was interrupted by his younger counterpart, who was about to go down the tunnel towards his left.

"Then let's not waste anymore time! We have to finally get her out of here."

"No! First we're going to take care of the demons." The dark-haired boy froze on the spot and then turned towards his brother in shock.

"What? You can't be serious, right? Aunt Paige has been kept prisoner here for almost four months now; we have to free her as soon as possible!" But Wyatt remained undeterred and showed not a hint of understanding for his brother's urgency.

"As you said, she's been here for so long, she's not going to go anywhere now. Unlike those demons; they might flee when they learn of my presence here and I cannot allow that. It was way too hard to find them for that."

It was silent for a moment after this statement, until Chris quietly replied.

"And I thought we had been trying to find Aunt Paige all this time."

Wyatt's aura became darker and more menacing as his expression turned into an angry mask.

"Those demons, those… animals have obliterated almost our entire family. They have killed mum right in front of your eyes so don't tell me that you don't want revenge! Don't tell me that you're willing to let them get away with it!"

But Chris held his brother's piercing glare and stepped towards him challengingly.

"Believe me, I know exactly what they did and I will never be able to forget it again, but Aunt Paige is still alive and who knows what they'll do to her when they realise that we're killing their men. She saved my life and I'm not going to put hers in jeopardy for revenge!"

Wyatt seemed to ponder these words for a few moments, until he ultimately just shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever. You go and save her then! I have an appointment with a bunch of demons to get to." And with these words he made Excalibur appear in his hand and marched down the tunnel in the direction opposite from his brother.

Chris stared after him disbelievingly for a few seconds, but then turned around and started walking, too, determined to rescue his aunt. Paige and the adult Chris followed him in some distance.

"So the demons didn't kill me like they did with the others?" Paige asked tentatively.

"No, they kidnapped you. Maybe because you saved me from them, but I don't really know. Wyatt didn't give any of them the chance to say something about their motives." He was watching his younger version, who was walking several feet in front of them, intent on saving his aunt all by himself now. Paige followed his gaze until she suddenly noticed something.

"Why did you two even come here alone? Didn't Leo want to go with you?" Chris snorted contemptuously, while trying to kick a small stone lying on the ground, but his foot passed through it without any effect.

"Since mum's death he had only come down to earth for her funeral. I think Wyatt saw him a few times, but even he said that he was distant. He just couldn't cope with her death." Paige looked at her nephew in surprise.

"But you're his son. He should have been there for you and your brother, especially after you'd been forced to see it."

"But that was exactly the problem." Paige stood frozen on the spot and stared at Chris in confusion.

"What do you mean by that? How could that have been the reason why he wasn't there for you?" She had trouble to understand Chris' next words, as he was speaking very quietly and his face was turned away from her.

"Because he thinks it's my fault." For a long moment Paige was completely speechless, but then she finally managed an answer.

"What? How could he think that? After what happened in the manor?" Chris avoided her eyes and looked to the ground instead with a guilty expression. It took him several seconds to reply anything.

"It was my birthday and everyone was only there because of me. I was standing directly in front of her and I didn't prevent it. It's no surprise that he thinks I'm responsible." Paige walked towards her nephew until she was standing directly in front of him, laid her hand on his arm and waited for him to return her piercing look.

"Chris, we've just seen with our own eyes what happened and your uncle was right. It was not your fault. And you weren't the only one there; everyone saw the demon before he killed Piper, but it all happened so fast that nobody could react in time. So don't let Leo talk you into believing such nonsense. He may be your father and an Elder, but he's certainly not omniscient."

She kept his gaze for a few more seconds until the young man finally nodded. Then she looked down the tunnel again and realised that the younger version of her nephew had almost outdistanced them.

"Come on, we should get going again." And so she began walking again, faster this time to reduce the distance to the brown-haired boy in front of them. Chris was next to her and for some time they remained quiet as both of them were dwelling on their own thoughts. But after a while Paige broke the silence.

"I don't know everything that happened in the future, but this Leo you're describing, even the one we briefly saw, isn't the man I know anymore. He's definitely not the same man Piper married." Chris thought about her words for a moment, but ultimately nodded.

"Yes, in your time he's different. We had our differences at first – you know, that whole thing about Vahalla – but I think when he finds out I'm his son he's going to accept me. Maybe he'll even be happy about it, something he's never been in the future." Paige looked at her nephew sympathetically and was about to assure him how much he meant to his father, but was interrupted before she could even say one word.

"Don't tell me he loved me, Paige! You've only seen a few moments from my life, but I've lived for years with the fact that my own father couldn't care less about me. He was never mean or even unfriendly, he was just… absent, even when we were in the same room. It was as if he didn't even see me." Paige tried to think of something to say to her nephew, but soon realised that he just had to talk about it, and so she decided not to interrupt him.

"After mum's death I had to tell him, Wyatt and Uncle Coop everything that had happened, especially because you weren't among the victims. We were sitting in an empty room in Magic School and he didn't say a single word the entire time. Only when I was finished he looked at me and asked: 'Why didn't you do anything?' I didn't know what to say to that, but that wasn't even necessary. Uncle Coop started shouting at Leo, that he could understand his pain, but that he didn't have to be so could-hearted towards me. They left the room after that so we wouldn't hear them anymore, but it didn't really help." At that he forced himself to a half-hearted smile before continuing.

"Uncle Coop said that me being traumatised after mum's death was normal, but I couldn't hear what Leo replied to that. When the door opened again he was gone and I only saw him again at her funeral."

With these words he finished his recount and kept walking in silence next to his aunt. He didn't remember the tunnel being this long, but he had probably been too deep in thought back then.

Paige remained quiet, too, as she still didn't know what to say to all of this. In the end she settled for simply resting a hand gently on her nephew's shoulder, in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. They kept going like this for a while, until they saw that the tunnel became wider about fifty meters in front of them.

The younger Chris crept along the wall in a crouching position now, while conjuring an energy ball in one of his hands. Surprised, his aunt looked over to her adult nephew.

"You can create energy balls? Why have I never seen that before?" Chris thought about the question intently before answering, all the while rubbing his upper arm unconsciously, his brow furrowed.

"I'm not really sure, but I guess someone took that power from me. Wyatt maybe."

But he didn't have any more time to think about this, as his younger self suddenly leapt forward and threw the energy ball at a demon standing guard. He went up in flames immediately, just like the one behind him that Chris first through back with a fling of his arm and then vanquished with a potion.

He was now inside a small cave and to his left there was another tunnel diverting from it, which was even more sparsely lit by an occasional torch on the wall. After making sure that there were no other demons in the vicinity, the boy proceeded down the tunnel carefully. Paige and his older self followed him, always concerned about not losing him in the semi-darkness.

When the tunnel suddenly made a sharp turn to the right, the young Chris stopped again and pressed himself against the wall so he was almost completely concealed by the shadows. Then he conjured another energy ball, but tried to hide it as good as possible, so he was still barely visible. Paige was about to ask Chris what his younger version was doing there, when she could suddenly hear footsteps coming towards them from around the corner.

The demon that appeared a few seconds later didn't even have a chance to react, as Chris' energy ball hit him and he went up in flames. But when the boy then stepped around the corner victoriously, he had to realise that there was another guard positioned next to the heavy wooden door at the end of the corridor.

This demon had of course been warned by his comrade's death and immediately threw a fireball at Chris, which the boy couldn't avoid completely. He jumped to the side instantly, but grimaced in pain when the projective grazed his thigh. He managed to react quickly, though, and pulled another vanquishing potion that had luckily survived the fall out of his pocket and threw it at the demon right away.

As this last obstacle was finally removed, Chris gathered himself up from the floor and walked towards the heavy wooden door at the end of the corridor. On the way he picked up the key ring the demon had been carrying on his belt and used it to unlock the door quickly.

There was a large room in front of him and his two invisible companions now that was without a doubt the dungeon he had been searching for. Of most of the cells, only the dirty bars were visible, so Chris couldn't make out his aunt at first. Pulling a torch out of its mounting, he walked further into the dungeon and walked past the bars slowly, peering inside.

Most of the cells were empty, but all of a sudden, a demon's claw shot out between two bars and Chris only barely managed to evade its grip with a lot of luck. He continued on his way with a little more distance to the cells until he finally found who he had been looking for merely a few meters ahead of him.

"Aunt Paige!" She was lying in the back of a cell on the ground, but didn't show any reaction to the voice of her nephew. At first Chris tried to open the cell door with one of the keys he had taken from the guard, but as one after the other proved to be wrong, he lost his patience. Stepping back, he opened the door with the help of his telekinetic powers instead. But in his hurry he moved his arm so strongly that he didn't just destroy the lock, but literally tore the entire door out of its hinges.

In an instant, Chris was at his aunt's side and knelt down next to her, but he flinched as the light from the torch fell on her face.

Paige and Chris, who had stayed closely behind the boy the entire time could see over his shoulder now, too, and especially the female witch was visibly shaken by what she saw. Because her future self was merely a shadow of the woman she had been only a few months ago. She was extremely emaciated and underneath all the dirt that was covering her body, her skin wasn't just pale anymore, but had taken on a sickly greyish tone.

"Aunt Paige." Chris gently stroked across his aunt's cheek, but she still wasn't moving. And on top of that came the fact that she was feeling so cold that Chris had to reach for her wrist to check for a pulse to be sure that she was even still alive. With shock he noticed the numerous bruises and cuts all over her body that had mostly become infected.

"Chris?" The boy looked back at his aunt's face immediately and noticed with a smile that she was looking back at him.

"Yes, Aunt Paige, I'm here." She returned his smile, although a little hesitantly, and then continued to speak in a very low voice, making her hard to understand.

"It's good to see you. I already thought that my condition didn't have any positive aspects at all." Chris stared at her in confusion for a moment, until the explanation suddenly hit him. She thought he was only her imagination.

"I'm not a hallucination, I'm really here." To emphasise his words, Chris took Paige's hand and pressed it against his cheek, so she could feel his presence. "You see? Wyatt and I came to get you back home."

"Wyatt?" The witch looked over her nephews shoulder, but couldn't see anyone there. Slightly abashed, Chris looked down to the ground before continuing.

"Yes, he's… he's keeping the demons at bay at the moment, but he'll be here soon to heal you." He turned his face to the ceiling and called for his brother loudly. "Wyatt! Wyatt, you need to come quickly, Aunt Paige needs you!"

Tears flooded his eyes as he realised how true this statement actually was. The witch was terribly sick, all these months in this cold cell had taken their toll on her and now she was literally on the brink of death. Alone and unconscious she would probably have slowly faded from this world within the next day or two, but now that she had mobilised her remaining strength to wake up and talk, she wouldn't have so much time left.

"It's impossible to orb here into the dungeon, so it's just going to take a little while until he's here," Chris tried to reassure his aunt and probably himself as well.

"It's alright." Paige's voice was barely a whisper now, but she slightly tightened her hold on Chris' hand.

"No! No, it's not! You saved my life and I'm not going to let you die here." He threw his head back once again and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"WYATT! You have to come here right now!" But even though he couldn't be sure, the boy didn't have the feeling that his cries for help would be answered. So he made a decision.

"I'm just going to get you to him. Maybe he simply can't hear me through the magical barrier that's around the dungeon." That wasn't much more than an excuse to not have to tell his aunt his real worry, that his brother simply didn't _want_ to come, but Chris fervently hoped it to be true anyway.

"You have to get up, okay?" He tried to help Paige up from the ground, but she was simply too weak to hold herself upright. After several failed tries, even Chris had to realise this and so he let himself and his aunt, whose arm he had wrapped around his shoulders, sink back to the ground carefully, so that Paige's head came to rest against his chest.

Chris stroked across her hair calmingly, as he tried to think of anything else to do now.

"I'm going to get him. I'll just run back all the way and then I'm going to drag him here by his blond hair if necessary." He wanted to get up again to put his plan into action, but was held back by Paige whose eyes were closed again, but who was obviously still conscious.

"Stop it, okay? Just stay with me and let me go." A sob escaped from Chris' throat as he heard his aunt's words.

"But…"

"Richard… our children… they're all dead, aren't they?" Chris gently wrapped an arm around his aunt before answering her.

"Yes." Silent tears ran down Paige's cheeks and her nephew already thought that she wasn't going to say anything else, but then she suddenly spoke again.

"Be careful about your brother."

"What do you mean?" Now Paige opened her eyes once more and locked up at her nephew piercingly.

"You know exactly what I mean. He is… changing. And that is why he's not going to come." Her exhaustion finally overwhelmed her and so the witch closed her eyes one last time and let her head fall back against the chest of her nephew.

"Take care of yourself," were her last words, before Paige became completely still. She took a few more breaths that were almost completely unnoticeable and then her heart stopped beating.

To be continued


	19. Confrontation

**Chapter 19: Confrontation**

While Chris' eyes remained fixed on his younger self and his dead aunt in the boy's arms, more and more of his memories returned to him, especially of how senseless the entire situation had seemed to him back then and how his despair and grief had all but overwhelmed him.

"I don't even know how long I remained sitting here; maybe hours. At least it seemed like an eternity to me."

The young whitelighter was completely lost in his own thoughts, so he only realised how much Paige had been affected by the events they had just seen, when she suddenly took a few steps back, trembling, her breathing turning into a shallow panting. Chris followed her movement, his concern for his aunt rising rapidly as he realised her shell-shocked condition.

"Tell me that he really couldn't hear you! Or that he simply didn't make it in time or something like that!" Finally she forced her eyes away from her dead counterpart and looked at Chris pleadingly.

"Wyatt, my own nephew, didn't just let me die like that, right?" Tears were streaming down the witch's face and blurred her sight, as she was desperately hoping for an answer she knew she would never receive.

Chris didn't know what to say. He was so used to Wyatt's ruthlessness that he hadn't expected his betrayal to hit Paige this hard. And he had been telling the sisters about his brother's change. But nothing could probably have prepared Paige for seeing the harsh truth for herself now.

Chris took a deep breath as he was about to answer his aunt's question, but for a brief moment he looked to the ground in shame without even realising it. But this unconscious gesture was enough of a reply for the witch and without being able to control herself, Paige felt that she was heading straight for a breakdown. She was barely getting enough air and her knees threatened to buckle beneath her as Chris rushed towards her and pulled her into a tight hug to prevent her from falling to the ground.

Paige couldn't even explain to herself why she was now reacting like this, because even though witnessing the deaths of her sisters, Richard and her children had affected her heavily, she had still been able to control herself. But to see how the desperate attempts of the young Chris to save her life ultimately failed not thanks to a demon, but because his own brother was denying him any help was obviously more than she could handle.

And yet, she had known, hadn't she? Chris had told them what would happen to Wyatt in the future, what kind of man he would become, but deep inside she obviously hadn't really been able to believe it until now.

"I'm so sorry that you had to witness this, Paige, but please, you have to try and calm down." Chris had his arms wrapped around his aunt and she was now returning the gesture slowly, while her breathing was still shallow and uneven. The young whitelighter hesitated.

What could he possibly say in this situation to help Paige? What words could make everything she had just seen more bearable, the death of almost her entire family and now even her own, because Wyatt obviously didn't care about what happened to her?

He sighed as he ran a hand over his aunt's hair while her head was resting against his shoulder wearily.

"Now you know why I came back. And if I mange to prevent whatever happened to Wyatt in your time, he will never become like this." Chris moved away from Paige a little to look into her eyes, and he noticed with relief that her breathing had become more even again and she now seemed to be merely exhausted.

"I don't know how exactly that will change the future, but I swear to you that I will not let something like this happen again. Ok?"

Paige returned the insistent look of her nephew and noticed the determination in his eyes. The same determination that had driven him in all those months he had been with them and that simply was, as she now realised, a crucial part of his being.

This was why Barbas had been able to manipulate him during his memory loss, because he had lost the determination to fulfil his primary goal. Because that was not simply to stop Wyatt, but to _save_ his brother, and that way maybe even the rest of his family, too.

"Ok." Paige nodded hesitantly, but before she was able to say anything else, she was blinded once more by a bright light as their surroundings changed yet again.

Surprised, she freed herself from Chris' embrace and looked around curiously, only to inhale sharply and move closer to her nephew again unconsciously, clearly shocked.

They had appeared at the entrance of a large cave and the fourteen years old Chris now stepped out of the tunnel next to them, he too stopping abruptly as he became aware of the scene in front of him.

He was still wearing the same clothes as before and the wound on his leg where a fireball from one of the guards had hit him was still clearly visible. Not much time could have passed and as Paige could easily see, they were still in the lair of her family's murderers.

The witch shuddered as her eyes wandered over the scene in front of her. Dead demons were lying all around the cave; or at least they should have been dead, considering the state most of them were in.

Gaping wounds, apparently left behind from Excalibur's blade, were visible all over their bodies, their clothes were drenched in blood and Paige flinched as she even noticed a few severed limbs lying on the floor. And yet they were all still moving, were obviously kept alive in some unnatural way, as their pained screams and the agony of their death throes were echoing from the walls.

Paige pulled her eyes away from the carnage in front of her and looked to her adult nephew, noticing both anger and revulsion on his face. But before she could ask him what was going on here, she was interrupted by his younger self, who seemed to have overcome his initial horror by now.

"You heard me, didn't you?" His voice was dangerously low, but Paige could hear the tension in it all too clearly. At first she couldn't see who he was talking to, but then her nephew stepped forward, over the dying bodies, towards a figure kneeling on the ground above one of the demons, that she hadn't noticed so far in all the chaos.

"At least have the decency to answer me! I know that you heard me and just because you couldn't tear yourself away from your little...", his eyes swept across the demons lying on the ground, "massacre here, Aunt Paige died."

The boy stared at the back of his brother's head with contempt, until he finally stood up and turned around to him.

Wyatt's hands, his face and his clothes were covered in blood and Paige got the frightening thought that he had been killing some of his opponents with his bare hands. Even the younger version of her nephew froze for a moment at the sight, giving his brother the opportunity to answer to his accusations.

"You've got that wrong, Chris. She did not die because of me, but because of these monsters here." His eyes full of hatred, he looked down at the writhing figures for a second, until a triumphant expression spread across his face.

"But I've avenged her death. And mum's and the others'."

Completely speechless, Chris stared at his brother for a few seconds and Paige, too, could barely believe how he was twisting the facts to justify his thirst for revenge. And he wasn't even denying that he had actually heard his brother's cries for help.

"She was still alive! What the hell is wrong with you? Paige was our aunt and you could have saved her!" In reaction to these words, Wyatt only regarded his younger brother with a derisive look and a humourless laugh, while walking slowly closer to him.

"But why should I have done that? Mum and Aunt Phoebe are dead, the Power of Three destroyed. And I'm sure there is nothing I could still have learned from Aunt Paige, so what should I have needed her for, anyway?" A malicious smile was playing on his lips, causing Chris to finally lose control.

With a rage filled scream he tackled his brother and hit him in the face with his fist so unexpectedly that they both tumbled to the ground together. Chris tried to land another hit, but didn't get the chance as Wyatt suddenly used his telekinetic powers to throw his attacker off of himself forcefully.

But before the boy crashed to the ground he was suddenly suspended in mid-air, unable to move, while Wyatt slowly struggled back to his feet. He looked at his brother with a mixture of anger and recognition, as he was wiping the blood off his lips where Chris had hit him.

"You are angry, I can understand that. And you are my brother, so I will forgive you for this one more time, but don't ever dare to attack me again, or I will do with you the same thing I did to this scum here." He let his eyes wander once more over the maimed demons as we walked slowly over to Chris.

The younger boy followed his example and let the horrible sight sink in briefly, before answering.

"Why even seek revenge if you don't even really care about what happens to any of us? Or is it simply the killing itself that you enjoy so much?" This time Wyatt shook his head almost pityingly at his brother's words.

"Chris, you just don't understand what this is about. Do you really think I would simply tolerate it that a bunch of demons slaughters my family? They had to pay for it and to merely kill them would not have been enough for what they did. That is why I keep them in this world; they are unable to die as long as I choose to punish them and so far I don't see any reason to release them." He looked directly into Chris' eyes as he continued and Paige had some difficulty understanding him from her position.

"Or what do you think, brother? Should I set them free?" He loosened his hold over Chris a little, so that the boy could at least move his head and then resumed talking, while looking down at one of the heavily injured demons beside them.

"Look at them carefully and think about what they did. How they murdered mum and the biggest part of our family and turned our home into a bloody battlefield." Wyatt lifted his eyes again and watched with fascination the indecisive expression on his brother's face as he was looking down at the demon.

"They are suffering now just as you have suffered, as you are still suffering. That is why I'm leaving the decision to you about what should happen with them now. Should I end their pain and let them die? Put them out of their misery? Is that what you want?"

Paige watched the two brothers and the whole situation with a mixture of fascination and horror until her eyes moved over to her adult nephew, who had been unsettlingly quiet the entire time. She had expected all of this to take a toll on him, but as she looked at him now, the witch realised that Chris was in a terrible condition.

All the colour had vanished from his face and he looked almost about to throw up, as his eyes, like those of his younger self, were fixed on the half dead demon that was lying on the ground next to the two boys.

The eyes of the black-clad man were wide in agony as he stared up at the brown haired boy who was about to decide his fate. He was trying to say something, probably to beg for mercy, but couldn't make any intelligible sounds through the pain. When Paige now looked around the cave one more time, she could easily relate to the disgust Chris was obviously feeling.

Wyatt had inflicted horrible injuries to all of these demons; none of them would normally still be alive and even though the witch hated them with every fibre of her being for what they had done to her family, her insides curled at the sight of what was happening here.

"No." The younger Chris' answer hit Paige so unexpectedly that she started looking from one nephew to the over in confusion for a few moments, unsure if she had understood him correctly.

"No, I don't want them to just get away with it. I want them to experience first hand all the pain they caused, everything they did."

"Believe me, that is the right decision." Wyatt nodded approvingly and released his magical hold over Chris, so he dropped safely back onto his feet again. The dark haired boy stayed where he was for a moment, trying to keep his emotions from showing on his face. He stared at the injured demons around him determinedly, but Paige could see that he was battling his own feelings.

Finally she did tear her eyes away from him and looked over to the adult Chris, who still hadn't said a word since they had arrived in this cave. On the one hand she could understand him, after all she had seen for herself what he had been through; but on the other hand she was still shocked by his ruthless decision and it painfully reminded her of the several occasions when he had seemingly tossed all morals aside to achieve his goals.

But when Chris finally spoke, a wave of relief washed over Paige.

"God knows that they earned everything they got, but I should never have done this. Something like this is Wyatt's way, not mine and I think that partly because of this decision he still believes until today that he can pull me over to his side." The young whitelighter sighed heavily and let himself sink onto the floor, where he pulled his legs closer to his body and rested his head against the wall.

Why did his whole life just have to be this messed-up? Weren't the deaths of his mother and half his family and Wyatt's merciless pursuit of power enough, did he really have to face his own horrible decisions now, too?

Completely worn out, Chris watched his younger self and his brother and as he just sat there, he suddenly started to wonder how his life would have went if Paige had been killed immediately during the demon attack at their house. If Wyatt's unforgivable behaviour hadn't repelled him, would he have followed his brother on his path? Would they have fought side by side to take control first of the underworld and finally of the entire planet?

Chris wished he could answer these question with a clear 'no', but by now he wasn't really sure anymore.

He remembered again that after the demon attack he had been filled with an enormous desire for revenge, just like Wyatt, but unlike his brother, he had concentrated his energy on finding and saving Paige. But what if this goal hadn't been available…

"Too bad I would have to stay here to keep control over them. This scum doesn't deserve to get away this easily, but I don't want to stay down here forever, either. Well, I guess I'll just have to enjoy it then while it lasts."

Wyatt stepped cheerfully over the field of injured demons while his brother had retreated back into a corner of the cave. His expression was still a mixture of the determination to stick to his decision and the nausea he felt at the sight of the maimed bodies. Paige actually thought that his complexion had become even paler at the notion of leaving the demons in this state forever.

The minutes crept by like an eternity as all the Halliwells present were caught up in their own thoughts and Paige swallowed heavily as she continued to look at Chris' younger self and became aware of the dark abyss that was the past of the young whitelighter. Of course she hadn't expected this journey into his memories to be a walk in the park, but all this pain and death they had witnesses so far was more than she could have imagined in her worst nightmares and the witch had to wonder how Chris ever managed to get over all this.

She herself had already been on the verge of a nervous breakdown, even though she knew that she would soon return into a world where none of this had happened so far and they might hopefully still be able to prevent it. But the more she thought about this now, the more she realised how close Chris had probably been to following his brother.

Paige's eyes fell once more on the dark haired boy and she realised with surprise that he was staring towards the tunnel entrance next to her, lost in his thoughts. All the determination that he had expressed earlier was gone now and had made way for an indescribable sadness that was reflected in his expression.

"Mum would be ashamed for us if she could see us now." Wyatt groaned contemptuously and rolled his eyes in reaction to his brother's words, but he didn't seem to have heard him as he now continued.

"She wouldn't have wanted something like this. And after what happened to Paige…" Chris' voice became more and more quiet, but before he could fall completely silent, Wyatt interrupted him harshly.

"Stop it, okay?" Chris flinched visibly as his brother unconsciously used the same words as his dying aunt not even an hour ago, as she had made her nephew realise what she had known all along; that there was no hope left for her.

"You have to stop to always ask yourself what mum or our aunts would be thinking about what you do. You've been doing that your entire life and it has always kept you from reaching your limits. But now they are dead and you finally have to make your own decisions. Look at me; I don't let myself become restrained by what others perceive as right." Wyatt looked hard into Chris' eyes, as if he was trying to convince him of his words just through this look alone.

"I am the most powerful being that has ever existed on this planet and my powers aren't meant to be hidden or suppressed, and neither are yours." Now he approached his brother decisively and reached out his hand at his next words.

"Join me! Stand by my side and from now on we'll only do what we think is right and nobody will be able to stand in our way ever again!" Chris looked at his brother's outstretched hand for a few moments, apparently contemplating his offer.

Paige had moved at little closer to the two to better understand them, but noticed out of the corner of her eyes that her adult nephew had stood up from the ground again. When she turned around to him she could see that the expression of disgust and shame had vanished from his face and that he was now regarding his younger self with a look that still conveyed mixed emotions, but with determination and pride clearly being among them.

But she had no time to interpret his expression any further, as the younger Chris now finally answered his brother and Paige quickly turned around to them.

"You think this is the right thing to do?" His voice sounded sad as he gestured towards the half dead demons lying on the ground. "You think it was right to let Aunt Paige die, just because she couldn't teach you anything else about magic? Maybe you're right and I really still need to learn to make my own decisions, but I'm afraid that my idea of what's 'right' will never match yours."

He turned his head a little to break eye contact with his brother and unconsciously looked back at the tunnel through which he had entered not too long ago. But Wyatt's reply got his attention back quickly.

"You should think about this very carefully." It sounded more like a threat than like an advice, but Chris was simply too exhausted to be intimidated.

"I already did. And now let those demons finally die, because only when they're all dead the magical barriers around here will collapse and I can finally take Aunt Paige home." Wyatt kept staring at him for another long moment, but ultimately nodded and in that very instant, the disfigured bodies of the demons around them burst into flames and were soon completely gone.

Chris simply nodded to Wyatt in return before he said goodbye.

"Take care, brother." The two boys held eye contact for a few more seconds until Chris finally disappeared in a whirl of white and blue orbs through the ceiling. Wyatt followed him with his eyes as far as possible and his voice was the last thing Paige and her adult nephew heard, before the world around them vanished in a bright white light once again.

"Believe me, this is not the end, Chris!"

To be continued


	20. The Council of Elders

**A/N: When I wrote the whitelighter in the first scene I always thought of him as ****David Anders**** from Alias, Heroes or Once Upon a Time. He's not described very much so I hope that helps.**

**Chapter 20: The Council of Elders**

The first harbingers of a desert storm were lashing across the dunes, propelling billions of sand grains over long distances across the plains, almost completely unobstructed. Not even the jagged rock formations that occasionally stuck out of the ground, and under which a vast system of caves was hidden, were spared by it, and so a mortal observer might have had trouble explaining how a city could lie in the middle of this sandstorm without there being even the slightest breeze inside of it.

Said observer would probably have explained the phenomenon that the sand seemed to hit an invisible barrier around and above the city, and was ultimately blown around it with a giant glass dome, but the person who now literally appeared out of the sky was no mortal.

It was a whitelighter who now materialized in a whirl of glowing sparks and, after a short moment of bracing himself against the storm, stared at the white and golden towers of the city in fascination. This had to be it, the source of the awakened magic they had sensed. He had found it.

"I guess this wasn't here two hours ago", he uttered quietly to himself as he slowly walked closer towards the city.

So far his mission had been going without problems. He had simply been relying on his sense of magic while orbing and the incredible power that was emitting from this place had made sure that he didn't even have a chance of missing his target. And even the sandstorm, that was making his eyes burn and heavily restricted his range of vision proved to be useful as it showed him the boundaries of the force field that was encircling the city. It had to be expected that something this powerful would be protected and now he was avoiding the danger of touching the barrier by accident.

The whitelighter extended his hands as far as a few inches towards the barrier, to feel how strong it was, but flinched back half-way as he was already hit by an energy stroke.

He had died only a few years ago and become a whitelighter and had not yet discarded most of his human behaviour, so he cursed under his breath as he examined the burned spot on his hand. He felt pain, something he hadn't even thought was possible anymore, but apparently this kind of magic was able to injure even him.

With a last look at the city he finally decided to return to the Elders. He had found what he had been searching for and didn't see any way to move forward from here, so his mission was done. But just as he was about to orb, he suddenly sensed a new source of power, as strong as the city itself, but more concentrated, closer, that was piecing through his entire being and made it impossible for him to use his abilities.

"I do not think I granted anyone of your kind permission to be here." The voice belonged to a woman, but it wasn't human. Actually it wasn't comparable to anything he had ever heard before. He wanted to turn around and look at her, but his legs didn't respond. He was frozen on the spot and only now did he realize that the sandstorm around him had stopped. Apparently she, who ever she was, had created a force field around the two of them as well.

"This is my city that you wanted to spy out. Did you really think I was just going to let you snoop around here?" She remained silent for a moment and the whitelighter could almost feel her gaze drilling into his head. "Look at me!"

Only now, that she commanded him to, he could move his legs again and turn around to finally see who he was dealing with. The demon Jinny was still angry after her failed attempt to kill the witches, their child and their whitelighter and even though this whitelighter knew neither her name nor anything else about her, he could feel the anger and power emitting from the black clad woman all too clearly.

And he felt fear. Another feeling that he hadn't known in this form for years and had hoped never to have to get to know again.

"They sent you, didn't they? The oh-so-wise Elders. Too scared to come down here to earth themselves, so instead they send someone like you. Cannon fodder. That's all you are to them. You get send out into a world full of dangers so they don't have to take care of anything on their own. No, they much rather sit in their little council and debate, debate and debate." She fell silent for a moment and moved closer to the whitelighter so she could lift a hand up to his cheek in an almost loving gesture.

"I could use you to send them a message. Something they wouldn't forget anytime soon." As his body was still paralysed by her magic, he couldn't even turn his head away as there were suddenly small bolts of energy coming out of her fingertips, leaving burned marks on his skin. She laughed as he winced in pain, before stepping even closer to him so their faces were only inches apart.

"I could mangle you so badly your own mother wouldn't recognise you." She interrupted herself for a moment, thinking, but then continued. "If she's still alive, but you know what I mean."

Jinny's voice was nothing more than a whisper and her hand which was still lying on his cheek traced across his burned skin gently, while her lips moved closer to his almost in slow motion. The whitelighter was still paralysed, he couldn't back away, and so he didn't have a choice, but to allow the demon to finally kiss him.

Her lips were surprisingly soft and gently, but at the same time seemed to tingle with energy as she deepened the kiss. She was obviously savouring the situation immensely; if it was actually because of the kiss or because she had forced him into this situation he didn't know, but she sighed quietly as she ultimately pulled away from him after what felt like forever, a smile still on her lips.

"Yes, I could torture you and then send you back to your people. I am sure they would never forget that message again." The demon took a step back and scrutinised him for a moment, the smile disappearing from her face and a completely indifferent expression appearing in its stead.

"Or not." With these words, she put the palms of her hands together, fixated him with her eyes and pulled her hands apart again, causing the whitelighter to dissolve into a mist of white sparks that slowly went out and then vanished completely.

Jinny looked at the now deserted spot for another few seconds, then stepped through the force field surrounding Zanbar and let the desert sand erase all traces of anybody ever being there. As she entered the city, she traced her tongue across her lips absentmindedly; they still tasted of him...

x x x

The bright friendly light and the pure white of her surroundings seemed a lot more surreal to Piper than usual after the chaos of the past hours and she needed a moment to adjust to it after she had arrived with Gideon in the sphere of the Elders. But she quickly realized that the usually so peaceful place was in some kind of uproar, at least going by the Elders' standards.

Everywhere there were small groups of men and women dressed in golden robes, talking anxiously, but they slowly fell silent one by one as they notices the two new arrivals. They were met with countless curious and astonished glances, but before anyone had the chance to talk to them, Gideon stepped forward and raised his voice so everyone could hear him.

"I bring urgent news about disturbing events on earth and therefore request an immediate gathering of the Council of Elders. I'm afraid this matter admits no delay." A young looking Elder, Roland, if Piper remembered his name correctly, broke away from the group he had been standing with and approached the director of Magic School with an extremely concerned expression.

Before saying anything, though, he looked briefly at Piper and the witch already expected a not so subtle hint about her presence up here not being permitted, but to her great astonishment he merely nodded to her politely and then turned back to Gideon. The Elders had apparently realised the gravity of the situation if they had already stopped caring about their hallowed protocols.

"Does your information concern the magical tremor that has occurred on earth a short while ago?"

"I could even be detected up here?" Gideon's voice clearly betrayed his dismay about the fact that the rise of Zanbar had even been sensed by the Elders. Because this only confirmed his suspicion about the city's incredible power which was now in the hands of a demon and might just signify the end for all of them.

"Yes. We all felt the awakening of a strong, ancient magic, but we could not tell what had happened from here. Leo insisted that we had to investigate the matter, though, and so we decided, although with some uneasiness, I might add, to send a whitelighter to earth; but we haven't heard from him since." Piper could tell by the Elder's expression that he really was concerned about their scout, but even though she would have liked to, she wasn't able to give him much hope, given the situation.

"I'm afraid you probably shouldn't have sent him. If he really did find Zanbar, he is most likely already dead."

"Zanbar?" Roland repeated the word slowly and reverently, as he looked from the witch to the director of Magic School and back again. "What we felt was the resurrection of Zanbar?" He waited for Gideon to nod in confirmation, before promising to immediately gather the Elders, turning around and vanishing again between the other hooded figures.

It didn't take long until the Elders began to head towards their meeting place and while Piper was looking out for her former husband, Gideon suddenly laid a hand on her shoulder and led the witch to the side to be able to talk to her uninterrupted. He kept his voice low and looked directly into Piper's eyes while speaking.

"I know that I don't have to explain the gravity of the situation to you, but I want you to remember, that the destruction of Zanbar will be the highest priority for the Elders." The witch returned his gaze slightly confused.

"What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that we will definitely try everything to save your sister, after all the power of three cannot exist without her, but if we get to a point in our efforts to stop Jinny where we have to make a decision between saving Phoebe and destroying Zanbar, it will be that the city's destruction takes precedence under any circumstances." Piper looked at the Elder disappointedly as she took a few steps backwards and nodded knowingly.

"Oh, I understand. You mean I should already prepare myself to lose yet another sister." Annoyed and slightly irritated by Piper's obviously completely false assessment of the situation, Gideon crossed the small distance between them and grabbed the witch's arm, probably a little more forceful than he had meant to.

"No! I just want you to realise how absolutely vital it is to annihilate Zanbar. Or at least to sink it again. You obviously have no idea about the power this city encompasses. To leave it in the hands of a demon would certainly mean the end of the world as you know it. That is simply not an option and whatever the council might decide, whatever sacrifice it takes, it will be worth it. Such a power can not be allowed to exist on earth and especially not in the hands of evil."

Piper felt like paralysed as she returned Gideon's intense stare, but before the Elder could continue, Leo, who had just emerged from one of the groups of cloaked figures, interrupted him, as the last stragglers were walking off into the direction of the assembly hall.

"Gideon!" The Elder flinched, slightly startled, let go of Piper's arm and stepped further away from the witch while looking at her apologetically.

"Forgive me, I should not have spoken to you like that. It appears that today I tend to always – what's the term – overshoot the mark." He looked briefly from Piper to Leo and then in the direction where the other Elders had just disappeared.

"I will go on and join the others, but please be quick. Time is of the essence right now." He nodded to both of them, then turned and left towards the assembly hall. Leo looked after him thoughtfully, until he turned back to Piper.

"What happened, did you have an argument? I don't think I've ever seen Gideon this upset." Piper shook her head and made a dismissive gesture.

"No, not really. He just seemed to be under the impression that I'm not taking the threat of Zanbar seriously enough and tried to... make it clear to me." Leo's expression darkened at her words.

"So it is true. I heard the other Elders talk in passing, but thought... hoped that I had misheard. So a demon has discovered it and is now in control of the city?"

"Yes." At this reply, Leo sighed and ran a hand across his face, his mood darkening even further.

"And I was the one who insisted that we had to investigate the tremor we felt. I had wanted to go myself, but the other Elders wanted to send a whitelighter instead. They said it would be too dangerous and now he is most likely dead." Piper took hold of Leo's hands and squeezed them lightly to convey at least some comfort.

"You had no way of knowing. This isn't your fault."

"The one we send was a good friend of mine. I am an Elder, I have greater powers than him, I could probably have escaped."

"Or you would be dead in his stead now. I need you, your... family needs you. You can't just die, okay?"

Leo looked at Piper for a long moment and felt how strong his love for her had always stayed despite their separation and as he now pulled the witch into his arms there was something at least close to a smile on his face for the first time since he had learned about their newest threat.

"You are right. I would never want to abandon you and I don't want Wyatt to have to grow up without a father, either."

"Or Chris." Piper had her head rested against Leo's chest so the Elder hadn't understood her whispered words and now looked at her questioningly.

"What?" The witch hesitated. She wanted so much to tell Leo the truth. To tell him, that the young whitelighter who had been right under their noses all these months and who had had to endure so much distrust from them was really their own son. But she had promised Chris not to and this probably wasn't exactly the best time to tell Leo about their newest addition to the family anyway.

So she merely shook her head and slowly freed herself from Leo's embrace.

"Nothing. But we should really go to the other Elders now. They're waiting for us." Leo kept his eyes on Piper for another seemingly endless moment, almost as if he was trying to memorise every detail of her appearance before he finally nodded. Then he took her hand and together they went to the assembly hall to see the already waiting Council of Elders.

x

"You never should have given that demon back her freedom. With that you put us all in danger." One of the Elders had risen from his seat and was fixating Piper with an angry glare while there was a soft murmur of approval coming from several of his colleagues. The witch rolled her eyes irritatedly before she reacted to his accusations.

"As I already said, we neither knew that Jinny was a threat, nor that Phoebe would take her place once she had wished her free. Bosk had almost gotten into possession of the bottle and in that situation my sister only did what she thought was right." Now another Elder from one of the back rows spoke up, but his argument found even less of Piper's approval.

"Then your whitelighter did not inform you adequately. When a demon is banned into a bottle, a notice for that can usually be found on it; he will have overlooked it negligently." Had the Elder known about the young man's true identity, he would have probably thought twice about speaking like that in front of his mother.

"Chris did nothing to cause this situation, so don't try to blame him. Blame me, if you really do need a scapegoat. After all, I knew that you weren't allowed to wish for anything from a genie, ever, but I wasn't able to stop Phoebe from doing just that. It... it was an accident, I... Phoebe thought she was doing the right thing and everyone can make a mistake once, right? I know she regretted it, a lot."

The witch finally interrupted herself as she realised how much she had talked herself into a rage. Her eyes fell on Leo who was sitting in the front row and who looked at her slightly startled, but also sympathetically. Piper knew that he didn't have a clue what she was actually talking about and had to be wondering why she was defending Chris so vehemently and once again she wanted nothing more than to tell him the truth. But she had made a promise to her son and at least for now she was going to keep it. And they were having other problems right now, after all, as Gideon reminded her when he suddenly stood up and began to speak.

"We should not be wasting our time with recriminations, but start to take measures to achieve Zanbar's destruction once and for all. Of course, we could just bury the city again, but as we have to realise now, that does not eliminate the problem. I think we should rather try to find a more final solution this time." The other Elders nodded in agreement, but before anyone could make a suggestion, Piper turned to Gideon curiously.

"That is something I'm not quite clear about, yet. How exactly did you manage to sink Zanbar in the desert in the first place? And why has no one ever tried to recover it until today?"

"Let me show you." Surprised, Piper turned around when another Elder suddenly rose from his seat and walked slowly towards her. With his short hair, the white beard and his robes he was looking like the Elder version of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and even if Piper usually didn't trust these highest representatives of good, she immediately liked this one.

"My name is Gabriel. If you want to, I can show you what happened back then, even though I'm not so sure we could even repeat it." Piper looked at him rather sceptically, but after a short glance at Leo, who nodded at her encouragingly, she finally agreed.

"All right, what do I have to do?" The Elder smiled, stepped directly in front of Piper and gently laid the palms of his hands against her temples.

"Not much. Just close your eyes." The witch followed his instruction, but the next second she ripped her eyes wide open again, as she had already seen through her closed eyelids, that her surroundings had changed drastically.

It was still very bright around her, but this time the light came from the sun, which burned down on them mercilessly from a clear blue sky. To Piper's surprise they were in the middle of the desert, but except from Gabriel who was standing beside her, she couldn't make out any signs of life around them. And there wasn't even a trace of a city anywhere, causing her to doubt that they were really in the right spot.

"The nexus that is the source of Zanbar's power has existed since ancient times, practically ever since there were humans and thus magic. But for millennia it lay hidden beneath the hostile desert sand so no one who could have felt its power came near. Until today." Astonished, Piper followed Gabriel's gaze until she finally noticed the figure that now appeared behind a dune in the distance.

It was a man wrapped in black, oriental robes who Piper almost confused for a human at first glance. But after all these years she had developed a keen eye for the supernatural and in this case almost everything about the figure seemed to practically scream 'demon'.

She watched as the dark clothed man moved forward quickly and purposefully, the heat and the difficult terrain not slowing him down in the slightest.

"He's a demon and like most of them he strives after just one thing: power. But unlike the majority of his kind, this one will be successful." Piper listened to Gabriel's words carefully, while she was watching the demon intently, who had by now arrived a little way below the dune on which they were standing at the moment. Now she could see him extend his arms in front of him and begin reciting a text in some foreign language, the palms of his hands directed at the ground beneath him.

"You mean he finds the nexus and can use its energy?" The Elder kept his eyes on the demon as he answered.

"See for yourself!" And it was only a second later, when the sand on the spot where the demon had held his ritual started to flow apart, forming a circular wall with a crater in the middle. This took only a few moments until suddenly, with a ferocity that made the ground underneath them quake, bolts of pure energy shot from the crater and into the sky above. But Piper didn't have long to watch the spectacle, as the landscape around them changed drastically the very next moment.

Instead of sand, there was the finest marble underneath her feet and around here there were white-golden towers reaching into the sky. Zanbar stretched out in front of them in all its glory, but even though it was beautiful to look at, Piper was almost overwhelmed by the crushing presence of evil.

"He absorbed the power of the nexus and had this city build on top of it. It's according to the local style, but I'm sure you're not letting yourself get fooled by its pretty exterior. This is a place of evil and the demon we just saw has become its Source." Gabriel stopped briefly to take in the city's impressions, but continued after a few moments.

"The powers of good in this world have suffered a terrible blow and have been severely pushed back. There were wars, famines and pestilence in many places and even though magic was still a common part of the world, we barely managed to do anything against it. And centuries should pass until the balance was finally restored." But before Piper had a chance to ask how exactly that had been accomplished, their surroundings changed again.

This time she needed a moment to see anything again, because they were inside a vast cave and the lighting conditions were anything but ideal. But ultimately she was able to make out a man and a woman in simple black clothes, who were obviously waiting for something.

"Are those demons?" Piper looked questioningly from the two figures to the Elder beside her, but he just shook his head slightly.

"No, they are Avatars." Seeing Piper's puzzled look, he hurried to explain. "They are a neutral power that usually doesn't interfere in the conflict between good and evil. While they do want there to be peace on earth, their methods and beliefs are simply not compatible with ours. But back then we didn't have any other option, but to form a temporary alliance with them."

As soon as he had said those words, not too far from them an Elder materialised, clad in the usual golden robes. His face was covered by a hood, but when he finally removed it, Piper was visibly startled.

"That... that's you!" Gabriel nodded, while he watched his past self walking over to the two Avatars.

"Yes, at the time the Council of Elders had assigned me to initiate the contact to our new allies. Because as much as I regret to admit it, the powers of good weren't nearly strong enough to deal with the Source on their own."

"I am glad that you have followed our invitation and are willing to listen to the proposal I want to submit to you." The Elder stepped forward and greeted the two Avatars with a handshake, obviously startling them a little, but the black clad woman showed no sign of that when she replied.

"As you have noted so accurately during our last meeting, the balance between the forces of good and evil on earth has been completely shifted. But if you are now seeking our help to tip the scales in your favour, we will have to disappoint you, as we see no benefit in eliminating the dominance of one side just to promote the other. For that undertaking you cannot expect any support from us." The female Avatar was eying the Elder with an expression that made it all too clear that she thought this conversation to be over, but he simply indicated a small bow before he replied in a placating tone.

"Nobody expects you to go against your own convictions. This isn't about a shift of power, but to even the chances. Additionally, the nexus in Zabar's centre has been a tool of evil for so long now, that we could never use it for our purposes, even if we wanted to. What we want is to destroy it. Or, if that doesn't work, at least make Zanbar vanish from the surface of the earth forever." Now the male Avatar spoke up for the first time.

"I am not sure if even our combined powers would be up to that task. You know just as well as we do how incredible powerful the Source is. He will thwart each of our attacks before we even have the chance to do any real damage." Gabriel nodded in agreement. It seemed as if he had already waited for this argument.

"The Council of Elders came to the same conclusion, which is the reason why we have asked another party to this meeting." He looked into one of the corners of the cave where suddenly a demon appeared who had obviously been hidden so far. His clothes made of fur and leather and his general scruffy appearance were in a striking contrast to the almost glowing Elder and the rather strict looking Avatars. Those seemed to be rather shocked about him being there, as the woman turned to Gabriel angrily.

"What is this? We have not agreed to meet here with a demon and least of all with _him_." Said demon grinned deviously as he approached the tree.

"As always it is a pleasure meeting someone of your small group, Beta. Who would have thought that after our last, rather unpleasant encounter, we would be meeting again as allies?" He probably wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Gabriel rather abruptly.

"That is enough, Zankou! We are not here to make friends, but to finally eliminate a threat that concerns each and every one of us." At this point the female Avatar spoke up in an obviously mocking tone.

"And why exactly is a demon here, then? After all, he's on the same side as the Source, isn't he?"

"Let's say, we've never really been friends and I am only alive today because I bowed down to him. But that is over now! Soon we will be equals again and then we will see who is going to rule the underworld in the future." But before Beta could answer him, Gabriel spoke up again. He probably hadn't expected to have to function as a mediator between the two other parties.

"Whatever kind of power struggles might start about the underworld after the destruction of Zanbar is of no importance for us, so I suggest we concentrate on the essentials again. And that also means that we must find a way to make sure that in case we do not manage to destroy the nexus, evil won't be able to make use of it again." He looked around challengingly until Zankou was finally the first to make a suggestion.

"A banning spell." In return he received a disbelieving laugh from the female Avatar, causing the demon to aim his explanations directed at her. "I'll admit that the idea of possessing this power myself does have its appeal, but on my own I do not even stand a chance against the Source, I know that. That is why I will adhere to the terms we will set here. And in my opinion are banning spells that fuelled by our combined powers the easiest and best method to keep every agent of evil, including myself, away from the nexus forever."

Before his female companion had the chance to talk again, and say something that could potentially lead to a real confrontation, the Avatar leader spoke again.

"Beyond that we should take the opportunity and erase the knowledge of both Zanbar and magic as a whole from the history of mankind. Whenever there is a conflict between our factions, it is fought out at humanity's expense; we should finally put an end to that."

"You mean we should go into hiding?" The demon was obviously anything but thrilled at this prospect. He turned to the Elder, apparently looking for help.

"That can't be what you want, right?" Gabriel seemed to be deep in thought, pondering the alternatives carefully.

"Maybe it really is about time for the humans to go their own way. If we all, and by that I mean every magical being, disappear and are no longer a part of their world, it probably will only take a few generations until sorcery and magic turn into myths and legends. Besides, I fear that our constant battles in the past have been causing them much more harm than good."

He ran a hand across his beard thoughtfully, before he began speaking again, this time in a final manner.

"I will have to speak to the Council of Elders about this, but I think that this decision would lead us in the right direction. We should meet again here tomorrow at the same time. And think about it, Zankou!" At this point he extended his hand to the demon which he took after only a short moment of hesitation.

"I will. And maybe a little restraint will even do us demons some good. And just because we won't be using magic out in the open anymore, doesn't mean that we'll have to retreat from the human world for good." He grinned one last time before nodding to them in a parting gesture and disappearing at quickly as he had arrived.

"Do you really think you can trust him? He is a demon." The female Avatar had her hands clasped behind her back and looked at the Elder sceptically.

"No, of course not. But we will not be making out agreement to hide magic on a voluntary basis, either. As soon as he agrees and the necessary measures have been taken there will be no going back. For none of us."

To be continued


	21. The Calm Before The Storm

**Chapter 21: The Calm Before The Storm**

After they had spent so much time in the underworld, Paige was actually surprised as she and Chris reappeared in an ordinary apartment corridor. The walls had been painted in a soft brown color, but that had obviously faded a long time ago. Wood was splintering off several of the door frames, giving the entire building a very run-down appearance.

The hum of the elevator filled the air for a few seconds, but stopped as the metal doors slid open and revealed Chris' past self.

But Paige quickly noticed that he wasn't much younger than the Chris she knew now, meaning that they had skipped a larger portion of her nephew's life. But Chris wasn't alone and his aunt was briefly startled as she recognized the young woman at his side who now stepped out into the hallway with him.

"Bianca!" She uttered in surprise and glanced over at Chris who was watching his memory almost entranced.

"Yes," he merely confirmed with an absentminded nod and for the first time since they had started their trip into the past, there was a sincere smile on his face.

Paige watched the two versions of her nephew and realized that the expression on both of their faces was almost identical. Chris was in love with the witch, then and now.

"Where are we here?" She finally asked, but it was the conversation that played out in front of them now, that answered her question.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Bianca asked as they kept walking down the hallway. Chris looked at her and reassuringly wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"Don't worry, Grandpa's gonna love you, I promise." The young woman smiled briefly at this, but then became serious again and shook her head.

"No, that's not what I meant; but thanks. I just mean that we kept our relationship a secret for a reason, even from your grandfather. If Wyatt finds out we're together, he'll know I'm helping you. He'll be after both of us." Chris remained silent for a moment, thinking about her words, but finally answered.

"I know it's a risk, even or maybe especially now that we're so close to going through with our plan, but… I just need him to know, can you understand that? Grandpa's practically been my only family for eight years now and I know he's constantly worried about me. So in case something goes wrong…"

"Don't say that," Bianca interrupted him, but Chris continued.

"Just _in case_ something goes wrong or I don't make it back I need him to know that right now I'm happy. And that you're the reason why."

"You truly loved her, didn't you?" Paige asked quietly as she watched her nephew's past self kiss his girlfriend gently. But Chris didn't answer her immediate.

He was having the weirdest sensation. He looked at Bianca and he remembered how strong his feelings for her had been and he remembered her. Everything about her.

How they had met and fallen in love, how they had come up with the plan for him to go back in time and stop Wyatt and also how she had betrayed him. And he remembered how she had changed her mind, protected him from Wyatt and paid for it with her life. She had died to save him, to make sure he finished his mission and Chris gasped slightly as everything came back to him.

His arrival in the past, his first meeting with the sisters and Leo and how painful it had been to be so close to them, but still be a stranger in their eyes. How he had hated to keep up the pretense of not knowing them and how relieved he had been when Piper had forced him to reveal the truth.

Sure, it might still mess up the future, but he would pass that bridge if he ever came to it.

"Chris?" Paige's voice suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts.

Pulling himself together, the young whitelighter turned towards his aunt, appearing to be positively choked up.

"Yes. Yes, I did. And I remember again."

"You remember what?" Paige asked, not sure if Chris really meant what she thought he meant.

"Everything."

Not really knowing what to say, except how glad she was, Paige pulled her nephew into a hug instead, she, too, still shaken by everything they had seen. Both of them were so distracted that they didn't even noticed the Chris from the past knocking on one of the doors and were slightly startled when a twenty years older Victor Bennet suddenly open up and greeted his visitors.

"Chris! What a wonderful surprise to see you. And who is your lovely companion here?" Past Chris promptly introduced Bianca to his grandfather, obviously a little embarrassed by his exuberance, but nevertheless smiling as the three of them entered the small apartment.

Paige had let go of her nephew by now and they followed the group inside, knowing that they probably didn't have a choice anyway. Inside, Victor let them into the kitchen and started to put on the water for some tea, while his nephew passed the time by filling him in on some of his recent activities.

Only when all three of them had set down at the table, did he start to tell his grandfather why they had really come. About the trip to the past to change history itself.

Victor's expression became increasingly worried and disbelieving with each word until he just stared at his nephew in silence even after he had finished his explanations.

Chris threw an uncertain glance at Bianca who encouraged him to go on, so he continued, trying to sound as reasonable as possible.

"I know it's a lot to take in, but we're going to go through with this. There is no way we'll ever be able to beat Wyatt here in this time, so changing the past to keep him from ever becoming evil is pretty much our option.

And who knows how much will be changed by saving Wyatt. It will probably alter the world and prevent countless people from dying."

"You mean… maybe the girls and… everyone?" Victor asked tentatively, barely even daring to hope for a world where his daughters and their families could still be alive.

"I honestly don't know." Chris answered, shaking his head. "But this is bigger than just our family. Wyatt is a threat to the entire world and he needs to be stopped. But he's still my brother, so I want to do that by saving him."

Victor looked at Chris quietly for a moment before smiling fondly.

"You really do come after your parents, did I ever tell you that?"

"You mean after mum, right?"Chris asked, obviously not liking the idea of being compared to Leo.

"No, I mean after both of them. Your father might have changed a lot, and not exactly for the better, but he was a good man once. Do you think I would have let him marry my daughter otherwise?"

Felling like she was intruding on a private conversation, Bianca excused herself and asked for the bathroom. Victor pointed her in the right direction and Chris watched her leave almost eagerly.

As soon as he heard the bathroom door close behind the young woman, Chris lowered his voice and started talking more excitedly.

"Speaking of that, there is something else I had wanted to talk to you about. I got this for Bianca." He pulled something out of his pocket and held his hand out to his grandfather. As his fingers opened, they revealed a plain but beautiful engagement ring, causing Victor to gasp in surprise.

"Chris, that is a very big decision you're holding there."

"I know." The young whitelighter answered honestly.

"So you're sure about it?"

"Absolutely." He answered with a smile. "I'm going to the past so I can have a future here and I can't even imagine Bianca not being a part of it."

Victor's expression lightened up as he heard his nephew's determination and he leaned over to pull the young man into a hug.

"Then congratulation and I wish you both the best of luck."

"Well, she's got to say 'yes' first." Chris tried to placate him, but his grandfather didn't seem too worried about that.

"Oh, she will, I'm sure. She loves you dearly, that much is obvious." He smiled proudly at Chris and clasped his shoulder in a fatherly gesture.

The emotional moment was interrupted however, when Victor suddenly started coughing violently. When it didn't subside after a few moments, Chris got up, filled a glass with water from the tap and handed it to his grandfather, an extremely concerned expression on his face.

After he drank the water, Victor recovered slightly, but he still looked weary as he nodded in gratitude to his nephew.

"Thank you, that really helped."

"It's getting worse, isn't it?" Chris asked hesitantly, obviously dreading the answer.

"With cancer at this stage, it's not going to get any better, Chris. And before you ask again, no, I still do not want you to talk to Leo about this. This is not something a demon or some spell caused; I've been a smoker for most of my adult life, so it's not really in the area of responsibility of a whitelighter or Elder to cure me." Noticing Bianca, who was just coming back into the room again, Victor straightened himself, stood up and headed towards the kitchen shelf where he stored a few bottles of liquor, a smile on his face.

"But now, let's not spoil this moment with such serious talk. It's not that often that I get a visit from my favorite grandson and his beautiful girlfriend, so we should celebrate this properly. And I'm not taking 'no' for an answer." He finished in a jovial tone, retrieving three glasses from a cabinet and putting them on the table.

But Paige and Chris didn't get to see anything else, as another white flash of light let the world around them disappear once more.

x

As Chris tried to open his eyes again he was immediately greeted by a splitting headache, causing him to close his eyes tightly again and let out a soft groan. It took him a few seconds to start another attempt, but this time his surroundings became clear and to his immense relief he recognised the ceiling ornaments of Magic School above him.

They were back in the empty class room, so it was finally over and he and Paige were back in the here and now.

Paige! Chris looked around the room searchingly until he finally found his aunt on the ground behind the teacher's desk. She, too, was just about to get up while holding her head with a moan; apparently she could completely relate to his headache right now. The young whitelighter got up from his seat to help her up, as his eyes fell on the clock on the wall. Reliving all of these memories had obviously only cost them a few minutes even though it had felt like an eternity for Chris.

"Are you okay?" Paige was looking slightly worse for wear, but nodded absentmindedly while she, just like Chris before, looked around their surroundings in surprise.

"Yes, don't worry, I'm alright. But are we really back? Are you sure that this isn't just another memory?" The witch looked at her nephew sceptically before letting her eyes wander around the class room they had retreated to once more.

Chris was sure that this was reality and no mere memory, but to convince his aunt he slowly laid a hand on the teacher's desk and at least inwardly he had to admit that he, too, was relieved when he felt the surface of the wooden table against his skin.

"Well, my hand doesn't go through objects anymore and I also have a splitting headache. I don't think it gets more real than this."

The young whitelighter paused briefly, as he thought once more about the events of the past few, as it turned out, minutes and tried to determine in how far all of that had changed his feelings or his point of view. Originally he had thought that he would have to actually relive his regained memories and that during this they would once more have an impact on him. But during each new part of his life that he and Paige had witness, for him it had really just been what it was; a memory. Something that had happened a long time ago and even though he obviously didn't want to see his family die once more, the pain hadn't been the same as back then. In contrast to Paige, he had had years to deal with their deaths as far as possible, and that was the reason why he now turned towards his aunt again with a worried expression.

"Are you sure you're alright? I mean, you have every reason not to be. After everything you saw from my past." Paige nodded, but at the same time avoided his gaze. Instead she kept looking around the room almost frantically, as if searching for something at which to direct her attention.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just... I..." She interrupted herself and hesitated for a few seconds, before finally pulling herself together and facing Chris again. "I can't get rid of the images." The witch shook her head about herself as if it were completely ridiculous that the events she had witnessed were still haunting her.

"I keep telling myself that it didn't happen, yet, and that if we save Wyatt it might never happen at all, but to see how they all... die..." Paige broke off as she wiped a hand across her face to remove the tears she couldn't hold back anymore.

Chris looked at her sympathetic, before crossing the short distance between them for the second time today and pulling his aunt into a tight embrace. And this time she didn't hesitate, but wrapped her arms around her nephew as well and gave in to all the grief and desperation that had built up inside of her.

As they stood like this for a while and Paige wept bitterly against his chest, Chris couldn't help but feel responsible for her pain. It had been his memories and they had been meant for him and for no-one else. No matter what the Book of Shadows had shown them, he should have never agreed to this.

"I am sorry that you had to live through all of that. Please forgive me for pulling you into this." Paige rolled her eyes and took a deep breath before breaking free from Chris' embrace and looking at him incredulously.

"Oh Chris, but that wasn't your fault. I mean you were against me casting the spell in the first place and then you even tried to send me back, how many times, twice. You're not to blame for me having inherited the Halliwell's stubbornness." Chris had to smile at this involuntarily, but didn't look completely convinced, yet. So Paige continued emphatically.

"And let me spell this out for you one more time: For _none_ of the things I saw today were _you_ at fault. Neither for Piper's death, nor for mine and most definitely not for the decisions of your brother. You are here, because despite of everything that happened and what he did, you still believe in Wyatt and want to save him and that is more than anybody could ever have asked of you."

Chris seemed to be fighting back tears now, too, but gathered himself again quickly and finally nodded.

"I know. She didn't die because of me, and neither did you, but..."

"No 'but', Chris! Believe me, in this case there is no 'but." Her nephew hesitated briefly, but finally nodded again and this time much more convincingly, much to the witch's relief.

"Good." Once again, she ran a hand across her face to get rid of any leftover tears, before straightening herself, taking the Book of Shadows and turning to leave. In the process she linked arms with Chris and pulled him along unceremoniously.

"Then let's head back to the others. After all, we've still got a demon to kill and the world to save."

"And that's news how exactly?" Chris asked with a sarcastic smile on his face.

"It's not. Everything's business as usual. More or less, at least." Paige finished, all the while hoping that dealing with Jinny would really be as easy as she had just made it sound.

x x x

There was a strong desert storm raging all around them, but Piper Halliwell didn't feel any of it, because everything was just what Gabriel was showing her. And even the three figures in front of them, who were preparing for a battle against one of the most powerful beings in the history of magic, were nothing more than an image from about two thousand years ago.

The demon Zankou, the Avatar Alpha and the Elder Gabriel were standing, hidden from view, in the middle of this storm a few miles away from Zanbar and were going through their next steps one last time. Each of them was carrying a crystal amulet around their neck that was emitting some kind of force field, protecting them against the force of the storm.

"I assume that each of us knows their assignment. Usually the Source would already be able to sense our presence even over this distance, but the amulets conceal us as long as we don't use powerful magic. So we should also be able to use our respective abilities to get to the city and take positions without him noticing us. But I cannot say how long we will be protected from a direct attack. Even our united powers with which we blessed the crystals will most likely not be able to withstand him for more than a minute, so we will have to be fast." Gabriel ran a hand over his beard while watching their surroundings thoughtfully.

"Maybe the storm will give us a few more seconds before he spots us, but I wouldn't count on it. But we cannot delay this any longer. Is everyone ready?" He turned towards the other two again, receiving a nod in agreement from both of them.

"More than ready." Zankou was obviously eager to attack and finally take his rival out for good. He had been waiting for this day for far too long already.

"And I assume that our agreement regarding the concealment of magic will be carried out even if we should not survive this attack. There is an Avatar standing by to fulfil the pact in case I should lose my life today."

"The Council of Elders is prepared to send a substitute as well. If the power of the Source is broken today, at whatever the cost, we will make magic disappear from the world of the humans forever. My side will hold up the arrangement even in the case of my death." Both the Elder and the Avatar looked over at Zankou expectantly now. After all they both knew that beside the reign of the Source there was hardly any structure in the realm of the demons and it must have been hard if not impossible to find someone else to support their plan.

"I'll admit, it wasn't easy and cost me a good deal of persuasion, but I found someone to take my place should something fatal happen to me. He is waiting in the cave where we last met."

"Good. Then nothing is standing in the way of our attack anymore."

"Did the other two survive as well?" Piper, who had been watching in silence for the past few minutes turned to face the Gabriel from her time, who had been completely focus on the events in front of them as well.

"By some miracle, yes. We had had to realise pretty quickly that we could neither kill the Source nor destroy the nexus itself. So we settled for sinking the city and erecting powerful banning spells around it. By doing so the connection between the demon and its source of power was disrupted and he lost almost all of the strength he had gained from the city. As he realised that he fled and we had reached our goal."

He had barely finished as their surroundings changed once more and they were now directly outside of Zanbar, next to past Gabriel. After a few seconds, as if on some invisible cue, he began to recite some ancient incantations and after only a few moments Piper could hear the sounds of explosions in the distance, muffled by the roaring of the storm.

"But see for yourself how hard-won this victory had been."

x x x

"Are Piper and Gideon not back, yet?" Paige and Chris had just entered the library of Magic School and the witch looked around the room expectantly, but had to realise disappointedly that the two weren't there. As they entered, Richard tore his eyes away from the ancient looking book he had been studying and looked at his girlfriend and her nephew in surprise.

"No, but you've only been gone for a few minutes. Who knows how long it will take until they've discussed everything with the Council."

"Right, of course." The witch had to remind herself once again that their little trip into Chris' memories had really only taken a few minutes even though it had felt so much longer to both of them. But it was actually for the best, as time was of the essence right now if they wanted to get one step ahead of Jinny.

"Did you find anything, yet?" Chris had walked over to Richard and Sigmund at the table and let his gaze wander over the countless books the two men had piled up in front of them.

"There are a lot of texts talking about the Source, but only very few authors seemed to have any knowledge about his origin." Sigmund pushed the volume he had just been reading away, resigning. "And nothing we have learned about the nexus so far seems to be of any help."

"Was there not even anything in your books, Richard?" Paige looked at her boyfriend hopefully, but he only shook his head in disappointment.

"Not yet, so we could really use some help here." With that he pushed one of the books from the table into Paige's hands, causing her to roll her eyes in annoyance.

"All right, all right. We'll help." She looked briefly over at Chris who was just picking up some reading material as well, and already started to skim through the pages. She could only hope that Piper and Gideon would have more success with the Elders.

x

Over an hour had passed since Paige and Chris had joined the others again and Paige was now sitting in a corner of the library with a pile of books as her eyes fell once more on her nephew who had made himself comfortable in a quite cosy looking armchair. On the floor next to him he had at least half a dozen books stacked haphazardly, just like Paige, but in contrast to her, Chris hadn't made any progress in a while. About ten minutes ago, the book which had been lying opened on his lap, had dropped from his hands and the witch had finally realised that her nephew had fallen asleep from exhaustion.

And who could blame him for that after everything that had happened within the past 24 hours? Now that Paige thought about it, she, too had the feeling of being able to sleep for a week, but she would only allow herself to get some rest when they knew what they would do next. But despite this resolution she couldn't quite stifle a yawn and so she finally got up and walked over to Sigmund and Richard who were still standing at the table in the centre of the library. While walking she rather unsuccessfully tried to rub the tiredness from her face with her hands.

"Hey Sigmund, is there maybe somewhere here in Magic School where I can get a cup of coffee? I feel like I'm going to fall asleep standing."

"What?" Sigmund lifted his head in surprise. He had been so absorbed in his studies, that he hadn't noticed Paige at first. "Oh, of course. Please forgive me, I am a terrible host. One cup of coffee, coming right up!" With that he moved his hand though the air a few times above the table until suddenly a large, rather old-fashioned looking cup with a steaming dark brown liquid appeared out of nowhere.

"Thanks a lot. You're a real saviour." The witch took the cup in both hands and immediately held it under her nose to absorb the aromatic smell, her eyes closed in delight. She sighed deeply as she finally took a careful sip of the hot beverage.

"Do you want me to get one for your nephew as well? He looks like he might use some caffeine, too." Sigmund asked while looking over at the sleeping whitelighter, but Paige decisively shook her head and denied the proposition.

"No, who knows when we'll get another chance for a break and Chris earned himself all the sleep he can get."

"But I'll take a cup." Surprised by this, everyone present turned around as they suddenly heard the voice of Piper coming from behind them. The witch and Gideon had returned to Magic School, but they weren't alone. Next to them were Leo and two other Elders, Roland and another much older looking one that neither Paige nor Richard had ever seen before.

"Piper, finally! And I see you even got us some backup. Leo, I hope you can be of some use as we could really use some help here right now." She nodded to him briefly, a gesture which Leo returned, before she turned to his companions, slightly puzzled.

"It's good to be back here. I'm sure you remember Roland. He is here to give us the full support of the Council. And this is Gabriel. He was there when Zanbar was buried in the desert all those years ago and I'm sure he can help us find a solution this time, too."

Paige and Richard greeted the other Elders and after these formalities had been resolved, the new arrivals were immediately briefed on the current state of research, while Leo turned worriedly to Paige. He had noticed the sleeping Chris and regarded him now carefully as he spoke to the witch quietly.

"Is everything alright with Chris? Or is he still weakened by the darklighter's attack?" Paige glanced over at her nephew as well, before answering Leo, glad that she could avoid looking at her ex-brother-in-law that way. She knew, of course, that she couldn't blame anyone for their deeds in the future, but in spite of that she still wasn't quite able to suppress the anger that had built inside of her ever since she had seen Chris' childhood memories with her own eyes.

"No, he recovered from that pretty quickly, but it just was an awfully eventful day. I mean first there was this whole thing with Bosk, then Jinny turns out to be a demon and now she's invincible and almost killed all of us. And somewhere in between all that chaos we even had a run-in with Barbas, too. So as far as I'm concerned, we might just all go on and hit the sack for a few days."

The witch had sounded completely chipper during her little tirade, causing Leo to react all the more shocked to the revelation that the sisters and their whitelighter didn't just have to deal with Jinny and her former master, but also with one of the most dangerous demons of the underworld.

"Barbas? When did you encounter Barbas? Piper promised to call me if you get into any serious trouble, so why don't I know about this?" He stared at Paige intently and obviously waited for an explanation on her part, but the witch was definitely not in the mood to give the Elder an account for anything.

Instead, she returned his stare just as fiercely, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Oh, don't worry, we can deal with someone like Barbas. But tell me, when Jinny stole Phoebe's bottle and one of her henchmen almost killed Richard, where exactly were you? If I recall it correctly, Piper called for you about a dozen times, but without the slightest reaction. If I hadn't developed my healing powers just in time Richard would be dead now, so don't complain to me that we would inform you too late."

I was completely quiet in the library now and everyone stared at Paige in shock as she kept fixating Leo with an unconcealed look of reproach.

Leo was stunned. Of course, he knew that the witch had no reason to lie to him, but her accusations still came as a complete surprise. How could she think that he would ever abandon his family in a life-or-death situation? He briefly glanced over at Piper, but she had her arms crossed as well now and looked at him as expectantly as her sister. The Elder took a deep breath and chose his words carefully before answering his furious ex-sister-in-law.

"I am sorry that you were on your own and I don't have an explanation for it, but I swear to you that I did not hear Piper's cries for help. I think you know me well enough to know that I would never deny you my assistance."

Paige looked at him indecisively for a moment, but ultimately dropped her arms and shrugged her shoulders unconsciously. She had been focusing so much on Leo in her anger that it felt difficult to trust the Elder once more. But he was right, despite everything she had learned about his future self, this Leo had never betrayed her trust before.

"Yes, alright, but how can it be that you of all people have not heard Piper calling for help? And as I said, she didn't just call out for you once." But before Leo had the chance to venture a guess, Roland beat him to it, to everyone's surprise. The Elder had stayed in the background so far, but obviously thought it necessary now to get involved in the conversation.

"Paige, I can assure you that Leo is indeed in no way to blame for this incident. I regret deeply that your friend almost lost his life and am relieved to see his health restored", at this point he nodded briefly to Richard, who acknowledge the gesture slightly baffled, "but in the light of the increased threat the darklighters are posing at the moment, we saw ourselves forced to restrict any communication with our charges on earth.

"And that even applied to me? I'm an Elder like you, Roland, so how dare you and the others to isolate me from my family?" Leo had turned around to the dark haired man and stared at him with a mixture of disbelieve and anger. He couldn't believe that the other Elders had betrayed him like this, and apparently he wasn't the only one, because before Roland had even had a chance to answer, Piper had already planted herself in front of him.

"So now that, for once, things actually get dangerous for your kind you hole up 'up there' and just bail on all those witches on earth who depend on your help? I remember how we fought to save all of you not to long ago, because we thought you represented the good in this world, but I see that that's obviously been a mistake." The look Piper was giving the Elder showed all too clearly that right now her opinion of his kind wasn't better than that of some demon from the underworld, but Roland hurried to appease the witch.

"You are wrong, we did not _bail_ on you or any other of our charges, but it was important, that none of us, neither whitelighter nor Elder", he pointedly glanced at Leo at this point, "embarks on a daring rescue mission on their own. And because of this only Elders from the inner circle of the Council are able to hear the calls of witches under our protection."

"So at least someone of you heard Piper. Then why did Richard still almost die?" Paige's voice had taken on an icy tone. While most of her doubts concerning Leo had been resolved, she was starting to get increasingly unsure regarding her trust in the Elders, and Roland's next words didn't do anything to help, either.

"I suppose neither you nor your sister are going to agree with our motivations, but as much as I regret it, in dangerous times like these we are forced to prioritize. And your friend is simply not one of our charges. Had one of you been injured, you could have been assured of our assistance, but much to my chagrin, given the current circumstances the risks predominated."

"Much to your _chagrin_…", Paige uttered the words angrily and seemed about to physically tackle the Elder, had Richard not held her back in time. He put an arm around her gently but firmly and pulled her back a little while talking to her calmingly.

"I'm fine, okay? I'll admit, it was closer than I would have liked, but you saved me from death and finally found your healing ability. So at least something good came from all of this and we can't really afford to argue about the past. We'll hopefully still have time for that once Jinny is vanquished."

Gideon used this opportunity to get everyone's attention back on the task at hand.

"Richard is right. I understand your frustration about the Elder's decision, but only when we have disposed of the demon Jinny we'll be able to do something against the increased threat posed by the darklighters, making these cautionary measures obsolete again. That is why I propose we focus back on our primary problem, the destruction of Zanbar."

After both Paige and Piper had agreed to this more or less convinced, everyone turned their attention back to the books and ancient documents that were lying on the table between them. Sigmund had already brought the new arrivals up to speed on their current stage of research so it was now up to Gabriel and Piper to tell the others about the events the Elder had only recently shown to the witch.

While Paige listened to their explanations, fascinated, her eyes wandered to the corner of the library where Chris had retreated to repeatedly, and she noticed not without envy that her nephew hadn't even noticed all of the commotion as he was still sound asleep. But on the other hand she didn't know anyone so deserving of some peace and quiet as the young whitelighter, so she already planned to ask Sigmund for a blanket for him in an opportune moment.

To be continued


End file.
